The extensive search operation in the North Atlantic enters a critical phase on Thursday to find a submersible and its five occupants who are missing near the wreck of the Titanic and whose oxygen reserves have been exhausted, according to the US Coast Guard.
• Also read – Submarine disappeared near the Titanic: A Quebecer had nevertheless sounded the alarm in 2018
• Also read – Missing submersible: How to interpret knocking noises?
• Also read – Airplanes, boats, robots: the means used to search for the missing submersible
The US Coast Guard has announced it is continuing “rescue operations” for a submersible and its five missing occupants near the wreck of the Titanic, despite fears of depletion of oxygen supplies.
“We continue to see that in particularly complex cases, people’s will to live must also be taken into account. And so we continue the search and continue our rescue efforts,” Rear Admiral John Mauger, head of search operations, told NBC.
AFP
The submersible has a theoretical autonomy of 96 hours of diving.
“We have to remain optimistic and hopeful,” said U.S. Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick during a news conference in Boston on Wednesday.
The discovery of underwater noise by Canadian P-3 aircraft in the search area, announced Wednesday, raised hope and guided the multinational fleet of rescuers dispatched to the scene of the accident.
But “I can’t tell you what these sounds are,” Captain Frederick said Wednesday after examining them with remotely operated underwater vehicles and a sonar-equipped surface vessel.
- Listen to Alexandre Dubé’s interview with Bertrand Sciboz, Divers specializing in finding wrecks above QUB radio :
Aerial surveillance with C-130 or P3 aircraft, ships equipped with underwater robots: the means used in particular by the American and Canadian armies continue to reach the place where the Polar Prince, whose ship based there, the submersible Titan left.
A Canadian ship with medical staff and a decompression chamber is underway.
AFP
The Atlante, a French Ifremer research vessel equipped with a robot capable of diving to the wreck of the Titanic, which lies nearly 4,000 meters deep, was due to depart around 8am, according to the French Research Institute for Exploitation GMT spot arrive the sea.
“The location of the research, 1450 km east of Cape Cod (on the Northeast coast of the United States, Editor’s note) and 640 km southeast of Saint John of Newfoundland (in Canada), makes it exceptionally difficult to mobilize large amounts of equipment quickly ‘ said Captain Frederick.
The surface search area covers 20,000 square kilometers.
An American, a Frenchman, a Briton and two British Pakistanis plunged into the abyss on Sunday morning aboard the Titan, a five-person submersible about 6.5 meters long. According to the US Coast Guard, he should resurface seven hours later.
AFP
Contact with the vehicle was lost less than two hours after departure. As of Tuesday afternoon, the Coast Guard had warned that there was “about 40 hours of breathable air” on board.
Since the search began on Sunday, details have emerged implicating OceanGate, with the company being accused of potential negligence in the security of its underwater tourism device.
A 2018 complaint seen by AFP says a former company executive, David Lochridge, was fired after he expressed serious doubts about the safety of the submersible.
According to this former head of naval operations, a porthole on the front of the device was designed to withstand the pressures at 1300 m depth, not 4000 m.
The boss of OceanGate, the American Stockton Rush, is on board his Titan.
He appeared together with the wealthy British businessman Hamish Harding (58) and the French Titanic specialist Paul-Henri Nargeolet (77) – nicknamed “Mr. Titanic” – Pakistani tycoon Shahzada Dawood (48) and his son Suleman (19), who both also have British nationality.
For $250,000, they went in search of the remains of one of the greatest maritime disasters of the 20th century.
The Titanic was wrecked on her maiden voyage in 1912 after colliding with an iceberg, killing nearly 1,500 passengers and crew.
Since the wreck’s discovery in 1985, scientists, treasure hunters and tourists have visited it, perpetuating the myth.
“Every hour that passes is more excruciating,” Bernard Cauvin, founder and director of the Cité de la Mer in Cherbourg, western France, who worked with Paul-Henri Nargeolet, told AFP.
“I know his professionalism, also in crisis management. Psychologically and technically he knows how to handle everything, he has experienced many others,” he added.
Tom Zaller, who visited the remains of Titanic 23 years ago and runs a company hosting an exhibit on the boat in Los Angeles in late June, recalls a similar expedition in 2020 aboard a Russian ship outfitted with two submersibles was.
“I took a camera and filmed myself. I watched the footage later and was absolutely terrified,” he told AFP.
Tom Zaller has known Paul-Henri Nargeolet for a long time and was in contact with Stockton Rush shortly before his departure on Sunday.
“They have been there for almost four days. I can’t imagine it,” he breathes. “I hope and pray they get out of here and found.”