Ex-British Navy officer reveals 'concerning timescales' of missing Titanic sub
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A huge search and rescue operation is still under way to find the Titanic tourist submarine which has now been missing for more than two days in the Atlantic Ocea with five people on board.
British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Sulaiman Dawood are on board the OceanGate’s Titan submersible. Founder of OceanGate Expeditions Stockton Rush is believed to be the fifth person.
The vessel was equipped with a four-day emergency supply of oxygen before it left its mother ship.
On Monday afternoon, Rear Adm John Mauger of the US Coast Guard todl reporters that there was believed to be between 70 and the full 96 hours left at that point.
The craft submerged Sunday morning, and its support vessel, the Canadian research icebreaker Polar Prince, lost contact with it about an hour and 45 minutes later, authorities said.
OceanGate Expeditions, a company offering eight-day missions to see the Titanic debris at a cost of $250,000 per person, said it is “exploring and mobilising all options to bring the crew back safely.” The US Coast Guard and Canadian Coast Guard are involved in rescue efforts.
WATCH: Locator map shows shipwreck where Titanic OceanGate submarine went missing
Submersible had communication problems in past
As the US Coast Guard works to locate the OceanGate submersible ship CBS reporter David Pogue reminds people that this is not the first time the submersible has faced communication issues.
The submersible is not fully functioning in the same way a submarine is. It requires a surface ship to give it the correct directions.
Last year, Mr Pogue conducted a CBS report on the sub and joined the crew for a dive when it lost communication with the surface ship. This caused the crew aboard the submersible to become lost.
“We were lost for two and a half hours,” one of the crew members told Mr Pogue.
Inside the Titanic-spotting submarine missing in the Atlantic:
A rescue operation is underway in the North Atlantic after a submarine touring the wreck of HMS Titanic went missing with five people on board.
OceanGate Expeditions offers missions to tour the debris of the luxury liner which sank in 1912 and was only rediscovered in 1985 – at a cost of $250,000 (£195k) per person. The company confirmed on Monday that its sub was lost at sea and the search for the vessel is underway.
Read the full story about what it’s like inside Titan:
WATCH: What happened to the Titan tourist submersible?
Expert reveals challenges of underwater search
An expert has revealed the challenges of the underwater search for the submersible which lost contact while visiting the wreck of the Titanic.
Dr Jamie Pringle, Reader in Forensic Geosciences at Keele University, UK, said in a statement to The Independent: “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.
“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.
OceanGate tourist sub
“Techniques vary, but in that water depth, a sonar search system would need to be specialised to a very narrow beam but high enough frequency in order to resolve a small submersible.
“The MH370 downed plane, lost in 2014, had a very large search radius and still hasn’t been solved. This search should be a much smaller search radius, as the submersible was reportedly on a relatively simple down and up dive.”
US Coast Guard says area where sub went missing is ‘remote’
During a press conference on Monday afternoon, Rear Admiral John Mauger, commander of the First US Coast Guard District said they were doing all they can to find the submersible but the area it went missing in was going to be challenging.
“The location of the search is approximately 900 miles east of Cape Code in a water depth of roughly 13,000 feet. It is a remote area and it is a challenge to conduct a search in that remote area but we are deploying all available assets to make sure we can locate the craft and rescue the people on board,” Mr Mauger said.
Due to the type of watercraft the submersible is, the Coast Guard has to search both surface level and underwater as it could be in either place.
WATCH: Ex-British Navy officer reveals 'concerning timescales' of missing Titanic sub
OceanGate adviser slams US government for holding up rescue efforts for missing Titanic sub due to paperwork
An OceanGate Expeditions adviser has slammed the US government for allegedly holding up efforts to rescue the five passengers on board the missing Titanic tourist sub – because of official paperwork.
David Concannon, an attorney and explorer who had a lucky escape when he pulled out of the adventure at the last minute, told NewsNation on Monday night that critical equipment that could help recover the missing Titan Vessel is currently thousands of miles away in the Guernsey Channel Islands.
The equipment is ready and waiting to be sent to the Atlantic Ocean to help find the missing sub, but can’t go anywhere until the US government authorises it.
“(They are) the same group, the experts, that did the advanced survey of the Titanic last year,” he said.
“They are mobilised. They’re sitting on the tarmac, ready to go. We have a ship off Newfoundland that is ready to take them to the site.”
While the five people on board are in a race for their lives, he said that the officials needed to sign off the rescue equipment aren’t showing the same level of urgency.
“This equipment has been on the tarmac for hours. When I communicate with the U.S. government, I get ‘out of office’ replies, not from everyone, but from key people that have a signoff on this,” he said.
Image of the OceanGate submersible
“That’s unacceptable. I don’t want to discourage the government officials that are helping because they’re doing their jobs, but we need to do it quicker.”
With the clock ticking until the vessel runs out of oxygen, Mr Concannon hammered home that there isn’t the time to waste.
“We need to move. We do not have minutes or hours. We need to move now,” he said.
He added: “We have people whose lives are at stake. You have to move. We have assets that are ready to go and they’re sitting and waiting.”
A look into Titanic tourism
The missing submersible has prompted interest into what people are looking for when they decide to embark on a pricy and potentially dangerous tour to view the wreckage of the Titanic.
A look back at The Independent’s reporting from 2020 into deep-sea tourism around the Titanic.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMidmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmluZGVwZW5kZW50LmNvLnVrL25ld3Mvd29ybGQvYW1lcmljYXMvc3VibWFyaW5lLXRpdGFudGljLW1pc3Npbmctc3VibWVyc2libGUtdG91cmlzdHMtbGF0ZXN0LWIyMzYwNTY4Lmh0bWzSAQA?oc=5
2023-06-20 11:45:41Z
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