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Rescuers are searching for a missing submarine near the shipwreck Titanic On Wednesday they focused their efforts on a remote area of the North Atlantic where undersea noises were detected, though officials cautioned that the sounds may not have come from the ship.
With estimates that the ship’s air supply could run out in a matter of hours, an international coalition of rescue teams was scouring a vast expanse of ocean in order to Titanwhich disappeared Sunday while taking five people on a deep-sea cruise to a century-old shipwreck as part of a tourist expedition.
The U.S. Coast Guard said remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) were deployed underwater near where the Canadian aircraft recorded the noise using sonar buoys on Tuesday and Wednesday but found no sign of Titan yet.
Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick told a news conference that the noise analysis was “inconclusive.”
“When you’re in the middle of a search and rescue operation, you always have hope,” he said. “In terms of noise specifically, we don’t know what it is, to be honest with you.” Officials did not provide a detailed description of the votes.
Even if the submarine is present, retrieving it presents huge logistical challenges, given the extreme conditions miles (thousands of meters) below the surface.
Teams from the United States, Canada and France using aircraft and ships searched more than 10,000 square miles (25,900 square kilometers) of open sea, nearly twice the land mass of the US state of Connecticut.
The 22-foot (6.7-meter) submarine Titan, operated by the United States Ocean Gate The expedition flights began their descent at 8 am (1200 GMT) on Sunday. Contact was lost with the surface support vessel near the end of what should have been a two-hour dive to the Titanic.
Sean Lett, who heads a company that jointly owns the support vessel, Polar Prince, told reporters Wednesday that “all protocols were followed” but declined to give a detailed description of how the communications stalled.
“There is still no life support on the submarine, and we will continue to hold out hope until the very end,” Miawpukek Horizon Maritime Services CEO Miawpukek Horizon Maritime Services told reporters in St. John’s Newfoundland.
Titan took off with 96 hours of air, according to the company, which means it could run out of oxygen by Thursday morning. But experts say the air supply depends on a host of factors, including whether the submarine still has power and how quiet the people on board are.
The wreckage of the British liner Titanic, which struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage in 1912, killing more than 1,500 people, lies on the sea floor at a depth of about 12,500 feet (3,810 meters). It is located 900 miles (1,450 km) east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and 400 miles south of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Those aboard the submarine, the highlight of the $250,000-per-person tourism adventure, included British billionaire and adventurer Hamish Harding, 58, and Pakistani-born businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, with his 19-year-old son. SuleimanBoth are British citizens.
French explorer Paul-Henri Nargolet, 77, w Stockton Rushfounder and CEO of OceanGate, is also reported to be on board.
Harding’s friend, Jannick Mikkelsen, who has accompanied the British businessman on other expeditions, told Reuters she hoped for good news but was not optimistic. “It would be a miracle if they were pulled out alive,” she said.
Safety concerns
Questions about Titan’s safety were raised in a 2018 lawsuit brought by OceanGate’s former director of marine operations, David Lochridge, who claims he was fired for expressing concerns that the hull could not withstand extreme depths.
In its lawsuit against Lochridge, OceanGate said it refused to accept the lead engineer’s assurances and accused Lochridge of improperly sharing classified information.
The two sides settled the case in November 2018. Neither the company nor Lochridge’s lawyer has commented on the details of the dispute.
Months before the lawsuit, a group of submarine industry leaders wrote to OceanGate warning that an “experimental” approach to developing the branch could lead to “minor to catastrophic” problems.
Aaron Newman, a former Titan passenger who knows some of the missing people, told NBC on Wednesday that he felt safe during his dive.
“This is not a Disney ride,” he said. “We are going to places that very few people have ever been to.”
If Titan can return to the surface, experts said, it will still be difficult to spot in open water. The submarine is bolted shut on the outside, making it impossible for those inside to escape unassisted.
If Titan were on the ocean floor, rescue efforts would be much more difficult due to the enormous pressures and complete darkness at more than two miles of depth. Titanic expert Tim Maltin said it would be “nearly impossible to perform a near-submarine rescue” on the sea floor.
A French research vessel carrying a deep-sea diving robotic submarine is expected to arrive later on Wednesday.
The remote-controlled ship can dive deep into the Titanic’s wreckage and can help free the submarine if it becomes stuck, although the robot cannot lift 21,000 pounds (9,525 kg) from the Titan on its own. The operator said the robot could also help attach the submarine to a surface vessel capable of lifting it.
With estimates that the ship’s air supply could run out in a matter of hours, an international coalition of rescue teams was scouring a vast expanse of ocean in order to Titanwhich disappeared Sunday while taking five people on a deep-sea cruise to a century-old shipwreck as part of a tourist expedition.
The U.S. Coast Guard said remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) were deployed underwater near where the Canadian aircraft recorded the noise using sonar buoys on Tuesday and Wednesday but found no sign of Titan yet.
Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick told a news conference that the noise analysis was “inconclusive.”
“When you’re in the middle of a search and rescue operation, you always have hope,” he said. “In terms of noise specifically, we don’t know what it is, to be honest with you.” Officials did not provide a detailed description of the votes.
Even if the submarine is present, retrieving it presents huge logistical challenges, given the extreme conditions miles (thousands of meters) below the surface.
Teams from the United States, Canada and France using aircraft and ships searched more than 10,000 square miles (25,900 square kilometers) of open sea, nearly twice the land mass of the US state of Connecticut.
The 22-foot (6.7-meter) submarine Titan, operated by the United States Ocean Gate The expedition flights began their descent at 8 am (1200 GMT) on Sunday. Contact was lost with the surface support vessel near the end of what should have been a two-hour dive to the Titanic.
Sean Lett, who heads a company that jointly owns the support vessel, Polar Prince, told reporters Wednesday that “all protocols were followed” but declined to give a detailed description of how the communications stalled.
“There is still no life support on the submarine, and we will continue to hold out hope until the very end,” Miawpukek Horizon Maritime Services CEO Miawpukek Horizon Maritime Services told reporters in St. John’s Newfoundland.
Titan took off with 96 hours of air, according to the company, which means it could run out of oxygen by Thursday morning. But experts say the air supply depends on a host of factors, including whether the submarine still has power and how quiet the people on board are.
The wreckage of the British liner Titanic, which struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage in 1912, killing more than 1,500 people, lies on the sea floor at a depth of about 12,500 feet (3,810 meters). It is located 900 miles (1,450 km) east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and 400 miles south of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Those aboard the submarine, the highlight of the $250,000-per-person tourism adventure, included British billionaire and adventurer Hamish Harding, 58, and Pakistani-born businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, with his 19-year-old son. SuleimanBoth are British citizens.
French explorer Paul-Henri Nargolet, 77, w Stockton Rushfounder and CEO of OceanGate, is also reported to be on board.
Harding’s friend, Jannick Mikkelsen, who has accompanied the British businessman on other expeditions, told Reuters she hoped for good news but was not optimistic. “It would be a miracle if they were pulled out alive,” she said.
Safety concerns
Questions about Titan’s safety were raised in a 2018 lawsuit brought by OceanGate’s former director of marine operations, David Lochridge, who claims he was fired for expressing concerns that the hull could not withstand extreme depths.
In its lawsuit against Lochridge, OceanGate said it refused to accept the lead engineer’s assurances and accused Lochridge of improperly sharing classified information.
The two sides settled the case in November 2018. Neither the company nor Lochridge’s lawyer has commented on the details of the dispute.
Months before the lawsuit, a group of submarine industry leaders wrote to OceanGate warning that an “experimental” approach to developing the branch could lead to “minor to catastrophic” problems.
Aaron Newman, a former Titan passenger who knows some of the missing people, told NBC on Wednesday that he felt safe during his dive.
“This is not a Disney ride,” he said. “We are going to places that very few people have ever been to.”
If Titan can return to the surface, experts said, it will still be difficult to spot in open water. The submarine is bolted shut on the outside, making it impossible for those inside to escape unassisted.
If Titan were on the ocean floor, rescue efforts would be much more difficult due to the enormous pressures and complete darkness at more than two miles of depth. Titanic expert Tim Maltin said it would be “nearly impossible to perform a near-submarine rescue” on the sea floor.
A French research vessel carrying a deep-sea diving robotic submarine is expected to arrive later on Wednesday.
The remote-controlled ship can dive deep into the Titanic’s wreckage and can help free the submarine if it becomes stuck, although the robot cannot lift 21,000 pounds (9,525 kg) from the Titan on its own. The operator said the robot could also help attach the submarine to a surface vessel capable of lifting it.
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