Canadian aircraft detects banging sounds underwater in search for Titan submersible

A Canadian aircraft involved in search operations for the missing tourist submersible that vanished near the wreck of the Titanic detected underwater noises in the North Atlantic on Tuesday (June 20). Taking to Twitter, the US Coast Guard said on Wednesday that Tuesday's discovery led search teams to relocate their underwater robotic search operations in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises.

"Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater noises in the search area. As a result, ROV (remotely operated vehicle) operations were relocated in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises. Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue," the USCG Northeast tweeted. "Additionally, the data from the P-3 aircraft (Canadian aircraft) has been shared with our US Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans," it added.

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The 21-foot-long tourist submersible Titan lost contact with its parent vessel last Saturday (June 17), 45 minutes into what should have been a two-hour dive to the century-old wreck of the Titanic.

Banging sound heard during search ops: US

On Tuesday, the crew searching for the Titan heard banging sounds every 30 minutes from underneath the water in the North Atlantic Ocean, a report by CNN said quoting a US government memo. The memo said that after additional sonar devices were deployed, the banging was still heard.

“Additional acoustic feedback was heard and will assist in vectoring surface assets and also indicating continued hope of survivors,” the report said quoting a later update.

Rescuers face obstacles in finding the submersible: Experts

According to a report by the news agency Reuters on Wednesday, experts pointed out that teams involved in the rescue efforts would face major obstacles both in finding the Titan and saving the people onboard.

Alistair Greig, a marine engineering professor at the University College London (UCL) said that in the event of a mid-dive emergency, the submersible's pilot would likely have released the weights to float back to the surface. But in the absence ofcommunication, locating the Titan in the vast Atlantic would prove challenging, Greig added.

Reuters reported that if the Titan was stuck on the ocean floor, a rescue effort would face even greater challenges because of extreme hydrostatic pressure and total darkness on the sea floor over two miles deep.

Tim Matlin, a Titanic expert, said it would be "almost impossible to effect a sub-to-sub rescue" on the seabed.

(With inputs from agencies)

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