Explained | Ships, planes search for missing Titanic tourist submersible: What we know so far

The joint search operation by American and Canadian ships and planes continued for a third day as rescuers raced against time on Tuesday (June 20) to find a submersible with five people on board who went to explore the wreckage of the Titanic in the North Atlantic.

The United States Coast Guard-led search for the small craft Titan is taking place off the coast of southeastern Canada where tourists were taken to explore the wreckage of the Titanicon Sunday.

What has happened so far?

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According to the US Coast Guard, there were five people, one pilot and four passengers, on board the tour firm OceanGate Expeditions’ submersible “Titan”. The Washington-based private company has been deploying crewed submersibles for deep-sea expeditions and said is “mobilising all options” to get the crew back safely and working with the government agencies.

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The submersible had between 70 and 96 hours of emergency oxygen as of Monday, said the US Coast Guard, adding that the vessel can stay underwater for up to 96 hours.It was not immediately clear if the vessel had resurfaced and was unable to communicate.

US Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick, in an updateon Tuesday afternoon,said thatdeep-diving tourist submersible has only"about 40 hours of breathable air".Additionally, even if the submersible has resurfaced the occupants cannot escape without assistance since it is sealed with bolts from the outside.

The submersible was carrying five people to see the wreckage of the RMS Titanic which sank during its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York, US in April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg, killing at least 1,500 people of the roughly 2,200 passengers and crew.

Since then the Titanic’s shipwreck, which was first discovered in 1985 around 650 kilometres off the coast of Canada and lies about 12,500 feet (3,810 metres) below the surface, has been explored extensively.

What happened on Sunday?

The five-person submersible had taken wealthy adventurers on a $250,000 trip, on Sunday to see the wreckage of the sunken Titanic which some have predicted would disappear in a matter of decades.

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The Titan’s dive on Sunday was supposed to be just another of many organised by the OceanGate since 2021. The support vessel Polar Prince, an icebreaker hired by OceanGate that takes people and the submersible vessel, arrived near the Titanic shipwreck on Sunday morning. As per reports, the submersible typically takes two hours to descend.

However, as per the Boston Coast Guard, the Titan “submerged Sunday morning, and the crew of the Polar Prince lost contact with them approximately one hour and 45 minutes into the vessel’s dive."

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Notably, it is not the first time that the tourist submersible has disappeared as revealed in a video shot by CBS last summer. The video showed the vessel appeared to have lost communication with its mothership for almost two and a half hours.

About the search so far

The US Coast Guard is currently searching 1,450 kilometres east of the Cape Cod peninsula. In a statement, on Tuesday morning, the officials said that the Polar Prince along with another US coast guard team will continue to do “surface searches throughout the evening".

This comes after US Coast Guard’s Rear Admiral John Mauger, addressing the press, on Monday said that it’s been challenging to search such a remote area. He added that the operation is also being conducted in two parts, which included a surface search in case the Titan has surfaced but is unable to establish communications, and an underwater sonar search.

In an update on Tuesday,Frederick said that the US andCanadian aircraft have searched more than 7,600 square miles with a commercial vessel andan unmanned vehicle capable of deep dives was also searching near the site.

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In addition to the US and Canadian rescue ships and planes scouring the area, sonar buoys are also being deployed to monitor the water depth of around 3,900 metres. The coast guard has also deployed two C-130 Hercules aircraft for surface search joined by Canadian C-130, and a P8 aircraft equipped with underwater sonar.

According to OceanGate’s website, the expedition begins in the Canadian city of St John’s, Newfoundland, before heading out around 640 kilometres into the North Atlantic Ocean to the wreckage site.

Why is the search so difficult?

Speaking to Reuters, two experts, on Tuesday, detailed the hostile conditions that any search and rescue operations might face while looking for the missing submersible. According to Tim Matlin, who has spent years studying the sunken ship and its wreckage, it's “pitch black down there”. He added, “You can’t see your hand in front of your face.”

Matlin also went on to describe the conditions like “being an astronaut going into space. So I do fear for the lives of those explorers who are on board."

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Meanwhile, Jamie Pringle, a Forensic Geoscience at Keele University in the United Kingdom told the news agency that the first 24 hours of the search were key and that the chance of survival is now greatly reduced.

Who was on board the submersible?

As mentioned earlier, while the officials have confirmed there are five people on board, only the identity of three people have been confirmed so far, which included British billionaire Hamish Harding (58), Vice Chairman of one of Pakistan’s largest conglomerates Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman Dawood.

Meanwhile, as per reports, 77-year-old French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Stockton Rush who is the founder and CEO of the tour firm OceanGate, are also on board, but there is no official confirmation on this yet.

Hamish Harding

One of the passengers, who is confirmed to be on board the missing submersible, Harding, chairman of aviation consultancy Action Aviation, took to Facebook, on Saturday and said, “Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023.”

ALSO READ |Who is Hamish Harding, the British billionaire on board missing Titanic submersible?

He added, “A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow,” adding that more expedition updates will follow “IF the weather holds!”.

That the United Arab Emirates-based businessman had beenmissing, was later confirmed by Harding’s stepson in a now-deleted Facebook post where he wrote that Harding had “gone missing on submarine” and asked for “thoughts and prayers”.

He later deleted the post citing respect for the family’s privacy.According to a previous social media report, Harding said that he would be on board the Titan as a “mission specialist”.

Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman

The Dawood family has confirmed that Shahzada the Vice Chairman of Engro Corporation and his son Suleman are on board the missing submersible. “We are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request everyone to pray for their safety,” said their family, on Tuesday.

ALSO READ |Who is Shahzada Dawood? One of Pakistan's wealthiest men on board the missing Titanic submersible

Paul-Henri Nargeolet

The 77-year-old French explorer is also on the missing submersible, a family spokesman told the BBC. Notably, he leads the underwater research at a company that owns the rights to the Titanic wreck and is nicknamed “Mr Titanic”. The former commander of the French Navy, Nargeolet reportedly served as both a deep diver and a minesweeper.

Stockton Rush

According to media reports, Rush, who is the founder and CEO of OceanGate is said to be on board the missing submersible. “The ocean is taking this thing, and we need to document it before it all disappears or becomes unrecognisable,” Rush had told the Associated Press back in 2021.

(With inputs from agencies)

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