Rescue teams race to find Titanic tourist sub

Rescue teams were racing on Wednesday to trace the origin of sounds heard from the depths of the North Atlantic in a search for a tourist submersible with five people on board that vanished on its descent to the century-old wreck of the Titanic.

The US Coast Guard said remotely operated vehicle (ROV) searches were in the area where Canadian aircraft detected the undersea noises on Tuesday, as the clock ticked in the last 24 hours of the missing craft’s presumed air supply.

“Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue,” the US Coast Guard wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.

The 6.4m submersible Titan, operated by US-based OceanGate Expeditions, began its descent at 12.00pm GMT on Sunday, according to the US Coast Guard. It lost contact with its parent surface vessel soon after that during what should have been a two-hour dive to the Titanic.

The US Coast Guard said on Tuesday at about 5pm GMT that it had enough air for 41 hours, which would mean a deadline of roughly 10.00am GMT on Thursday. The vessel has 96 hours of air supply, according to its specifications, assuming it is intact. But experts say the deadline depends on a range of factors, including whether it still has power.

The wreck of the British ocean liner, which sank when it hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage in 1912, lies on the seabed at a depth of about 3,810m. It is about 1,450km east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and 643,7km south of St. John’s, Newfoundland.

The submersible dive is the highlight of a tourist expedition that costs $250,000 per person. Those aboard include British billionaire and adventurer Hamish Harding, 58, and Pakistani-born entrepreneur Shahzada Dawood, 48, with his 19-year-old son Suleman, who are both British citizens.

French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, and Stockton Rush, founder and CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, are also reportedly on board. The authorities have not confirmed the identity of any passenger.

A friend of Harding, Jannicke Mikkelsen, who accompanied the British entrepreneur on other expeditions, said on Tuesday she hoped for good news but was not optimistic. “It would be a miracle if they are recovered alive,” she said.

US, Canadian and French teams have been involved in the search covering an area of open sea larger than the US state of Connecticut or about half the size of Belgium.

Reports of ‘banging’ sounds

Aircraft and ships from the US Coast Guard, US Navy and Canadian armed forces combed more than 19,700km² of the North Atlantic, US Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick said on Tuesday.

The Canadian military dropped sonar buoys to listen for any sounds that might come from the Titan and a commercial pipeline-laying vessel with a remote-controlled deepwater submersible was also searching, he said. A French research ship with a deep-sea diving robot submersible was sent to the area at the request of the US Navy, and was expected to arrive later on Wednesday, said France’s Ifremer ocean science research institute.

US Coast Guard said Canadian Lockheed P-3 Orion aircraft, which have subsurface surveillance gear to trace submarines, detected the underwater noises in the search area on Tuesday.

Remote undersea equipment was deployed in the area where the sounds were detected and data from the P-3 aircraft was shared the US Navy experts “for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans,” the US Coast Guard wrote in its Twitter statement.

It did not give details on the nature of the sounds, but CNN and Rolling Stone magazine, citing internal US government communications, reported Canadian aircraft detected banging sounds at 30-minute intervals in the area.

Rolling Stone said the sounds were picked up by sonar buoys and that sonar picked up more banging four hours later.

CNN, citing a US government memo, said more sounds were heard about four hours after the banging was detected but said the second occurrence was not described as banging.

Experts say rescuers face major obstacles in finding the Titan and saving the people aboard.

In the event of a mid-dive emergency, Titan’s pilot probably would have released weights to float back to the surface, said Alistair Greig, a marine engineering professor at University College London. But he said it would be difficult to locate the van-sized submersible in the Atlantic without any communication.

The submersible is sealed with bolts outside, preventing occupants escaping without assistance even if it surfaced.

If Titan were stuck on the ocean floor, a rescue effort would face even bigger challenges because of the huge pressures and total darkness at a depth of more than 3.2km. Titanic expert Tim Matlin said it would be “almost impossible to effect a sub-to-sub rescue” on the seabed.

The sinking of the Titanic, which killed more than 1,500 people, is immortalised in books and films. Popular interest was renewed by the 1997 blockbuster movie Titanic.

Reuters