Titanic sub: More noises heard in search area; Crew have less than 20 hours of breathable oxygen left
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Rescue teams searching for the missing Titan submersible have been focusing their efforts on a remote area of the North Atlantic where a series of underwater noises have been detected.
However, experts have not yet identified the source of these noises, and officials have warned the sounds may not have originated from the missing vessel itself.
Noises were detected by Canadian P-3 aircraft on Tuesday and again on Wednesday.
The rescue teams are now in a race against time to find Titan, with the US Coast Guard confirming those on board have less than 20 hours of oxygen remaining.
The sub lost communication with tour operators on Sunday while about 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland, during a voyage to the shipwreck off the coast of Canada.
In an update this evening, Captain Frederick of the US Coast Guard said he currently has five surface assets searching for the sub. He also said that he expects to have a total of 10 surface assets searching the area in the next 24 to 48 hours.
The surface search area is now approximately two times the size of the US state of Connecticut, while the subsurface search approximately 4km deep.
Despite this, Capt Frederick said the operation remains a "search and rescue" mission, and they are hopeful to find those inside the submersible alive.
Asked about oxygen levels on board, he said: “Oxygen is just one piece of data. There are lots of pieces of data that we need to study. But (oxygen) is not the only thing that’s important.
"The good news, what I can tell you, is that we’re searching in the area where the noises were detected, and we’ll continue to do so," he said.
Speaking at the same briefing, Carl Hartsfield of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute said it was “very difficult" to discern what exactly the sources of the noises heard by the Canadian P-3 aircraft are.
He said every report of noise one of those noises is being "analysed, tracked, and reported upon”.
The 6.7m long Titan has five people on board.
They are British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman and OceanGate’s chief executive and founder Stockton Rush, reportedly together with French submersible pilot Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
An array of vessels are involved in the search effort, including Bahamian research vessel Deep Energy, French research vessel L’Atalante, His Majesty’s Canadian Ship Glace Bay – for a mobile decompression chamber and medical personnel – and four Canadian Coast Guard vessels, according to the US Coast Guard.
Speaking earlier, former Royal Navy submarine captain Ryan Ramsey said the rescue operation is made harder due to there being no replica of the Titan submersible to model a rescue attempt off should they find it.
He said: “It would have to be bespoke equipment. I don’t think anyone has planned for this kind of operation so they would have to create some kind of bespoke process to get a cable round or a fixing point on that particular submersible.
“The problem with that is, with most submersibles, they make two of them, they make two of them for reasons – for example, something does happen to one of them the rescuing porters can go see the other one and figure how they’re going to exercise the rescue.
“In this particular case, they only made one and so there’s no opportunity for people to work out what that solution is and to work that problem through and achieve a successful outcome.”
In a statement on their website, deep water specialists Magellan said they were contacted by OceanGate on Monday and “immediately” offered knowledge of the site and expertise in operating at depth.
The company added that it has been working with UK and US agencies to move its specialist equipment and support crew to St John’s, Newfoundland, following instructions to mobilise from OceanGate.