17:23
The UK is sending a plane and an expert to search for the titan
The British government has announced the dispatch of a special equipment RAF military aircraft carrying on board a submarine officer, Lieutenant Richard Kantharia, who has “considerable knowledge of submarine warfare and diving operations” to help in the search after the submarine Titan attend its five missing occupants near the wreck of the Titanic. The decision was made at the request of the US Coast Guard. The search continues, even if the hope of finding the missing alive is now linked to a miracle.
4:53 p.m
Underwater drone reaches the sea bottom
In the last half hour, it has been confirmed that two deep-sea ROVs, i.e. remotely operated vehicles, have arrived at the site and one has reached the seabed. This was announced by the US Coast Guard on social media.
1:14 p.m
The 96 hours of oxygen for passengers has expired
The 96 hours of oxygen missing from the Titan submarine since Sunday has expired, but experts warn that this is an inaccurate estimate and that if passengers had taken some precautions to consume less (e.g. stay calm and not eat), this would still be a few hours of autonomy. Submarine search and rescue expert Frank Owen notably stated that the oxygen estimate was based only on a “nominal consumption rate”. And yet, technical reports aside, hopes of finding the Bathyscaphe’s five passengers alive seem to have evaporated.
1:13 p.m
The experts: If the submarine is found, another 4 hours are necessary
The chances of finding alive the five passengers on the Titan, the Oceangate submarine that has disappeared en route to the Titanic wreck since Sunday, are diminishing. The search operations were initially unsuccessful, the experts explain, even if it were found soon, it would take at least four hours to bring the submarine back to the surface and open the hatch from the outside. In a briefing by the Science Media Center followed by the BBC, Alistair Greig, professor of marine engineering at University College London, and Rob Larter, marine geophysicist at the British Antarctic Survey, asked how long it might take the sub to reach the surface once Once found, they replied, “We don’t know how long it would take, but in a normal operating scenario, we expect it to take about two hours to go down and another two hours (to come back up). Larter added, “The longer time goes by, the less chance there is of success.”
12:03
A French robot capable of diving to 6,000 depths has arrived
The French ship Atalante with a deep-diving robot has reached the search area of the Titan submarine lost in the North Atlantic: Sky News writes it, citing the Marine Traffic website. The robot is able to dive to extreme depths of up to 6,000 meters. According to Marine Traffic, the Atalante has slowed down to six knots and is about 20 to 30 km away from the “Madra ship” Polar Prince. Dubbed the Victor 6000, the robot has remote-controlled arms that can be used to cut cables or perform other maneuvers to free a stranded ship. While the craft could not raise the Titan to the surface on its own, it could help dock it with a surfaced ship.
09:25
The oxygen ends today, June 22, at 12 noon
Oxygen supplies on Titan were due to end at 12pm (Italian time) today, but there are variables that could give the Titan crew a few more hours of autonomy. Search operations intensified after sounds were picked up from the seabed on Tuesday and again yesterday. We’re not yet sure about the causes and origins of the noise – which could be coming from inside the submarine – but the research area has since been expanded to cover an area of about 10,000 square miles – or 26,000 square kilometers – at depths it goes up to at 2.5 miles, about 4,000 feet.
On board OceanGate Expeditions the British Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Pakistani, the CEO and founder of OceanGate Stockton Rush, the French Paul-Henri Nargeolet. Until yesterday, the US Coast Guard could count on the help of five surface vessels that participated in the search operations, their number is expected to increase to ten today, as Captain Jamie Frederick announced yesterday.
“What I can tell you,” he explained, “is that we are searching in the area where the noise was detected and we will continue to do so, and if we can get other remote control vehicles tomorrow morning, they will.” intention to do so.” B. Continue searching in the area where the sounds were detected and see if they are still detected.”
07:45
A Canadian Royal Air Force patrol aircraft used to hunt down nuclear submarines was also deployed
A Canadian Royal Air Force Lockheed P-3 Orion (CP-140 Aurora version) has been added to the dozens of research vehicles, a four-engine turboprop designed for hunting submarines, including nuclear submarines, and was used for patrols at sea. It can fly for 12 hours at a range of over 3,000km, dropping sonic buoys and survival kits.