‘Underwater noises’ have been picked up by a Canadian P-3 search aircraft in the mission to rescue the missing sub on its way to visit the wreck of RMS Titanic with five people on board, as confirmed by the US Coast Guard. Four hours later, additional sonar was used and noises could still be heard.
As of yet, the remotely operated vehicles (ROV) which have been relocated to explore the source have ‘yielded negative results’, according to the US Coast Guard.
‘Additionally, the data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our US Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans,’ the Coast Guard tweeted in the early hours of Wednesday, as the ROV searches continue.
‘Banging’ was heard at 30-minute intervals on Tuesday, according to an internal US government memo seen by US media outlets.
The small submersible started its descent on Sunday morning and can stay underwater for 96 hours – with enough oxygen onboard to last until Thursday afternoon Eastern Time. It is operated by OceanGate Expeditions, which began taking small crews of citizen scientists to the wreck two years ago at a cost of around $250,000 per person.
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Technical difficulties in 2021 ‘Titan’ trip
In a court filing last year, OceanGate referenced some technical issues with the Titan during the 2021 trip, according to the report by New York Times on Wednesday.
‘On the first dive to the Titanic, the submersible encountered a battery issue and had to be manually attached to its lifting platform,’ the company’s legal and operational adviser, David Concannon, wrote in the document, which was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, which oversees matters having to do with the Titanic. The submersible sustained modest damage to its exterior, he wrote, leading OceanGate to cancel the mission so it could make repairs.
Twenty-eight people were able to visit the Titanic wreckage on the Titan last year, Concannon wrote in the filing.
How is the search and rescue mission operating?
US and Canadian rescue teams are carrying out searches for the vessel. On Tuesday, a French vessel named Atalante, which is equipped with a deep-sea underwater robot was sent to the North Atlantic to support efforts to find the missing sub. It is schedule to arrive by Wednesday evening.
At least five vessels are now at the wreck site, including the research vessel Polar Prince which initially towed the Titan submersible. Deep Energy, a Bahamian pipe laying vessel, arrived at the wreck site overnight, alongside Canadian coast guard vessels John Cabot and Atlantic Merlin. According to marine tracking data, four other vessels listed by the US Coast Guard won’t arrive today.
Crews do not know if the vessel has surfaced or is still in the ocean depths, according to Rear Admiral John Mauger, first district commander of the US Coast Guard, who is overseeing the search-and-rescue operation.
The amount of wreckage from the Titanic on the ocean floor is another difficulty that search and rescue crews could face, as it may take search teams longer to discern between debris and the Titan.
US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said the ‘remote’ location of the submersible made the search operation a ‘challenge’.
‘We are deploying all available assets to make sure that we can locate the craft and rescue the people on board,’ Mauger said.
The Titan’s position would have been tracked until the moment contact was lost.
‘Aquatic search is pretty tricky, as the ocean floor is a lot more rugged than on land, and water isn’t homogenous either – there are different stratified levels of water and currents,’ said Dr Jamie Pringle, Reader in Forensic Geosciences at Keele University.
‘A typical land search for a missing person or vehicle would move outwards radially from the last known position. This is how this search is also likely being conducted.’
The ‘Titan’ missing sub vessel
According to the OceanGate website, the ‘Titan’ vessel weighs 10,432 kg (23,000 lbs) and has a ’96-hour life support for five crew’. It has a maximum capacity of five individuals: four passengers and one pilot. It can reach depths of up to 4,000 metres (13,123 feet).
A CBS correspondent, David Pogue, took a trip on the Titan last year. According to Pogue, several bolts were applied from the outside to seal passengers into the main capsule, and had to be removed by an external crew.
Who is onboard the missing Titanic sub?
The identities of the five people onboard were announced last night. They include British businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, the vice-chairman of Dawood Hercules Corporation and his son, Sulaiman Dawood, 19.
The Dawood family released a statement on Tuesday.
‘Our son Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, had embarked on a journey to visit the remnants of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean.’‘We are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request everyone to pray for their safety while granting the family privacy at this time. The family is well looked after and are praying to Allah for the safe return of their family members.’
British billionaire explorer and chairman of Action Aviation, Hamish Harding, is also onboard the vessel. He holds at least four Guinness World Records, including the ‘fastest circumnavigation of Earth via both geographic poles via aeroplane’.
Alongside explorer Victor Vescovo, Harding has also travelled in a two-man submarine to the lowest point in the world’s oceans, the deepest point of the Mariana Trench, the Challenger Deep – a depth of about 36,000 ft.
The 13-hour underwater mission was also the longest duration spent at full ocean depth (four hours and 15 minutes) and the longest distance traversed at full ocean depth (4.6 km).
On social media at the weekend, Harding said he was ‘proud to finally announce’ that he would be aboard the mission to the wreck of the Titanic – but added that due to the ‘worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023’.
He added: ‘A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow.’
Former French navy commander, deep diver and submersible pilot dive, Paul-Henry Nargeolet is another passenger on the OceanGate Expeditions vessel. He is the Director of Underwater Research for E/M Group and RMS Titanic. Nargeolet has led several expeditions to RMS Titanic and supervised the recovery of 5,000 artefacts.
Stockton Rush, chief executive and founder of OceanGate Expeditions is also onboard. He is a co-founder and member of the Board of Trustees of OceanGate Foundation, a non-profit organisation supporting the emergence of marine technology to further discoveries in marine science, archaeology and history. At the age of 19, Rush became the youngest jet transport-rated pilot in the world.
The OceanGate Expeditions adviser David Concannon was due to take part in the voyage, but cancelled last-minute due to ‘another urgent client matter’.
Where is the Titanic wreck?
The wreck of the Titanic was located 37 years ago in 1985, and lies approximately 3,800m (12,500ft) under the Atlantic, about 600km (370 miles) from Newfoundland, Canada.
The Titanic sank on 14-15 April 1912 during its maiden voyage from Southampton, UK to New York City. Two thousand two hundred passengers were estimated to be on board, and around 1,500 people died in the disaster, of which 700 were crew members.
This is a breaking story, we will add updates as and when they become available.
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