Missing Titanic submersible can be stuck 12,500ft down on ocean floor, twice as deep as Grand Canyon: Report

The Titanic submersible, which has gone missing in the Atlantic Ocean, for three days now and has less than 20 hours of oxygen left, can be stuck 12,500ft down on the ocean floor, suggested a report published by the Daily Mail. 

The report stated that a shocking graphic has revealed that the submersible could be lying in the ocean bed at a depth which is more than "twice as deep as the Grand Canyon". 

The alarm about the vessel gone missing was raised by the authorities on Sunday when OceanGate's Titan submersible disappeared less than two hours after it dived towards the historic shipwreck.

The vessel has five passengers onboard which includes Pakistan's richest man Shahzada Dawood along with his son Suleman, billionaire Hamish Harding, Stockton Rush and Paul-Henry Nargeolet. 

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The rescuers are now racing against time as the oxygen supply declines and the chances of finding the submersible fade.

A tour of Titanic's shipwreck was started by OceanGate Expeditions which was charging $248,094 per head for travelling in the submersible from the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, at 2:30 am EST (7:30 am GMT) on Sunday.

As per the report, the submersible 'Titan' communicates every 15 minutes with those present on the surface by giving an alert signal to its mothership, the Polar Prince. 

The mothership last received the signal from the submersible at 10 am EST (3 pm GMT) on Monday, when they were above their destination of the Titanic. 

The report suggests that the scenario when the submersible lost its contact suggests that they are stuck on the ocean floor, around 12,500ft (3,800m) below the surface.

The report estimated that the missing submersible can be stuck at a depth which is twice as deep as the vast Grand Canyon, which is only 6,000ft (1,828m). 

As per the Marine Insight, submersibles can venture at a maximum depth of 1,476ft (450m) on average, which is just a little more than the height of Chicago's Willis Tower.

However, OceanGate's Titan submersible was designed to go to depths which are nearly 800 per cent greater than this, with its maximum capacity standing at 13,123 ft (4,000m).

Although the capacity of the submersible beats the depth of the seabed of the North Atlantic, experts fear that the US Navy sub may find it very difficult to reach such depths, as its capabilities remain limited to just 2,000ft (609m).  

Because of this, remotely operated vehicles are likely to be left as the only alternative for rescuing them to reach the maximum depths of 20,000ft (6,096m). 

David Gallo, the owner of the salvage rights to the wreck site of Titanic, while speaking to CNN, said, "One of the biggest things is where is it? Is it on the bottom, is it floating, is it mid-water? That is something that has not been determined yet... We will have to wait and see and hope for the best."

"The water is very deep - two miles plus. It's like a visit to another planet, it's not what people think it is. It is a sunless, cold environment and high pressure," he added. 

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