The race against time to find a submersible that disappeared on its way to the Titanic wreckage site entered a new phase of desperation yesterday as the final hours of oxygen possibly left aboard the tiny vessel ticked off the clock.
Rescuers have rushed more ships and vessels to the site of the disappearance, hoping underwater sounds they detected for a second straight day might narrow their search in the urgent mission.
However, the crew had only a four-day oxygen supply when the vessel, called the Titan, set off at about 6am on Sunday.
Photo: AFP
Even those who expressed optimism said that many obstacles remain: from pinpointing the vessel’s location, to reaching it with rescue equipment and bringing it to the surface — assuming it is still intact. All that has to happen before the passengers’ oxygen supply runs out.
The area being searched was nearly the size of Belgium in waters as deep as 4,020m.
US First Coast Guard District Captain Jamie Frederick said authorities were still holding out hope of saving the five passengers onboard.
Photo: REUTERS
“This is a search-and-rescue mission, 100 percent,” he said on Wednesday.
The area of the North Atlantic where the Titan vanished on Sunday is prone to fog and stormy conditions, making it an extremely challenging environment to conduct a search-and-rescue mission, oceanographer Donald Murphy said.
Newly uncovered allegations suggest there had been significant warnings made about vessel safety during the submersible’s development.
Frederick said that although the sounds that have been detected offered a chance to narrow the search, their exact location and source had not yet been determined.
“We don’t know what they are, to be frank,” he said.
Retired US Navy captain Carl Hartsfield, who is the director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Systems Laboratory, said the sounds have been described as “banging noises,” but added that search crews “have to put the whole picture together in context and they have to eliminate potential manmade sources other than the Titan.”
The report was encouraging to some experts because submarine crews unable to communicate with the surface are taught to bang on their submersible’s hull to be detected by sonar.
The US Navy on Wednesday said that it was sending a specialized salvage system that is capable of hoisting “large, bulky and heavy undersea objects such as aircraft or small vessels.”
Aboard the vessel is pilot Stockton Rush, who is chief executive officer of OceanGate Expeditions, the company leading the expedition. His passengers are a British adventurer, two members of a Pakistani business family and a Titanic expert.
Officials have said the vessel had a 96-hour oxygen supply, giving them a deadline of early yesterday to find and raise the Titan.
However, the estimated oxygen supply is a useful “target” for searchers, but is only based on a “nominal amount of consumption,” submarine expert Frank Owen said.
The expedition leader is likely advising passengers to “reduce your metabolic levels so that you can actually extend this,” he added.
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