Global Courant
The frantic search for the missing tourist submarine Titanic continued on Wednesday after Canadian aircraft detected “underwater sounds” in the search area.
The noises led to redirected searches by remotely operated vehicles, the U.S. Coast Guard said early Wednesday, noting that the effort had “returned negative results” so far.
The five people aboard the ship, who disappeared during a mission to explore the wreckage of the Titanic, had less than 40 hours of oxygen supply left Tuesday afternoon, said a Coast Guard official, who called the effort to find the submarine a race by time.
Those on the missing ship, named Titan, have been identified as Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, the company behind the mission; British billionaire Hamish Harding, owner of Action Aviation; French diving expert Paul Henry Nargeolet and prominent Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.
What you need to know about the missing sub
The submarine, named Titan, went missing on Sunday while on a mission to investigate the wreckage of the Titanic, which lies 900 nautical miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The ship had up to 96 hours of oxygen supply, and by 1 p.m. ET Tuesday there was only 41 hours left, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The price of a place on the submarine, which can carry 5 people, was $ 250,000. It was his third trip since OceanGate Expeditions started offering trips in 2021. The rescue operation is not only a race against time, but also faces an extreme environment.
‘It’s really a bit like being an astronaut going into space’
The harsh and unforgiving environment that rescuers must navigate in the search for Titan can be more easily compared to space than many other places on Earth.
“It’s pitch black down there. It’s freezing cold. The seabed is mud and it is wavy. You can’t see your hand in front of your face,” historian and Titanic expert Tim Maltin said in an interview with NBC News Now. “It’s really a bit like being an astronaut going into space.”
But unlike space, humanity’s presence deep in the world’s oceans is minimal, and the technology for search and recovery missions is limited.
The submarine’s oxygen supply is the most pressing factor in the search, but it’s not the only challenge, said Jamie Pringle, a professor of forensic geosciences at Keele University in the United Kingdom. Scouring such extreme depths is challenging because the seafloor is rougher than land, he said.
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There is only a finite amount of oxygen left on the missing ship
The US Coast Guard and those helping to find Titan are in a race against time, with the ship’s oxygen supply finite.
The submarine had up to 96 hours of oxygen supply, and by 1 p.m. ET Tuesday afternoon, U.S. Coast Guard officials said it had about 41 hours left.
Rescuers trying to find the submarine not only race against time, but also face difficult search conditions in an unforgiving environment.
Aircraft detect ‘underwater noises’ while searching
Canadian planes searching for signs of the missing submarine found “underwater sounds” in the search area, the US Coast Guard said early Wednesday.
The underwater noises, detected by Canadian P-3 aircraft, prompted redirected searches by remotely operated vehicles, the Coast Guard tweeted shortly before 12:30 a.m. ET.
“Those ROV searches have yielded negative results, but continue,” the Coast Guard said. “In addition, the data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our US Navy experts for further analysis that will be considered in future search plans.” A representative said OceanGate could not provide additional information.
