SEE Debris of the tatanic sub, Titanic sub rescue teams find ‘debris field’ within search area
The search for the missing submersible Titan took a grim turn as rescue teams discovered a “debris field” beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Hopes of finding the crew alive dwindled with this disheartening development. The US Coast Guard shared this information in a tweet, providing no further details regarding the size or location of the debris field. More information was promised to be disclosed during a scheduled press conference at 3 pm ET on Thursday.
The debris field was detected by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that was surveying the sea bed near the wreckage site of the Titanic, which rests 12,500 feet deep. The crew of five aboard the Titan had aimed to explore this historic site but lost contact with a support vessel just one hour and 45 minutes into their planned 11-hour dive on Sunday.
By Thursday morning, the search and rescue operation had reached a critical stage, as the submersible’s initial 96-hour oxygen supply was close to depletion. Furthermore, there were no additional reports of unidentified “banging” noises, which had been detected by sonar buoys deployed by Canadian military aircraft on Tuesday night and Wednesday.
Authorities deemed the analysis of the noises inconclusive, and recordings were being examined by experts in subsurface acoustics from the US navy. Despite these challenges, Rear Admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard expressed hope during an interview with Sky News, stating that the search and rescue mission remained active and that they were utilizing the available equipment, such as ROVs, to expand their search capabilities. He acknowledged that a discussion about ending the operation might come at some point but emphasized that it was not yet the appropriate moment. He also expressed gratitude for the support received from international partners, including the British Royal Navy.
The favorable weather conditions at the search site, located approximately 400 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland, aided the rescue efforts. The coast guard reported that rescuers were maximizing the current weather window to their advantage.
Meanwhile, Guillermo Söhnlein, co-founder of OceanGate, the company operating the missing submersible, remained optimistic about the crew’s survival window, despite the imminent exhaustion of breathable air. He believed they had a longer timeframe than most people assumed and urged the crew to conserve supplies by remaining as relaxed as possible. Söhnlein’s hope for his friend Stockton Rush, who was aboard the Titan, and the rest of the crew remained unwavering.
However, the family of Hamish Harding, a British explorer on the Titan, criticized OceanGate for the delay in alerting the coast guard after realizing the submersible was out of contact on Sunday. Kathleen Cosnett, Harding’s cousin, expressed concern over the length of time it took for the rescue efforts to commence, stating that three hours should have been the minimum response time. The official timeline indicates that the coast guard received the first report of the submersible’s disappearance at 5:40 pm, several hours after the support ship Polar Prince lost contact at around 9:45 am ET.
The Titan also carried British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman, as well as French veteran Titanic explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet. OceanGate charges approximately $250,000 per seat on their tourist submersible for individuals to visit the Titanic, which tragically sank in 1912, claiming over 1,500 lives.
On Thursday morning, a deep-ocean ROV from the Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic reached the seabed first, as confirmed by the Coast Guard. Another ROV from the French ship L’Atalante was set to join the operation later. Additionally, a Canadian navy vessel arrived at the site, carrying a hyperbaric
