Titan, the Titanic tour submersible taking wealthy tourists to visit the site of the Titanic wreckage in deep waters off the Canadian coast is missing for the third day with 5 aboard. Canadian and US ships and planes are sweeping a huge area trying to locate the vessel.
A rescue operation is underway in search of a missing OceanGate Expeditions submersible vessel deep in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. OceanGate Expeditions is a company that offers tours of underwater canyons and shipwrecks.
Three Brits are among the five people feared missing on a tourist submarine that disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean during a dive to see the Titanic’s wreck.
The US Coast Guard said that one pilot and four passengers were on board the submersible that went missing on Sunday. He added that the vessel could remain underwater for up to 96 hours although it was not clear if it had resurfaced and was unable to communicate.
OceanGate provides 10-day expeditions to the Titanic site. The vessel was taking a crew to the historic site as part of its tour where guests pay $250,000 to travel more than 3.2km below the surface of the ocean, to the wreckage on the seabed. The submersible takes approximately 2 hours to descend to the Titanic.
An official has admitted that the missing Titanic submersible with five people onboard could be entangled in the wreckage of the Titanic that it was diving to explore. The crew that launched at around 4 a.m. lost communication with the mothership a short while afterwards.
The Coast Guard confirmed that the Canadian research ship MV Polar Prince a medium-duty icebreaker formerly operated by the Canadian Coast Guard, hired by OceanGate, had lost contact with the submersible about an hour and 45 minutes since it began a dive about 1,450 km east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, towards the wreckage of the Titanic on Sunday morning.
Rear Admiral John Mauger who is helping to coordinate the search stated that the US Coast Guard is working as hard as possible to find the submersible. He said they had been notified on Sunday afternoon, and are bringing all assets to bear to try to find the submersible.
A frantic marine search is underway. He said that the rescue mission was very complicated given that the wreckage is 370 miles from Newfoundland in Canada, but is in US waters. The Boston Coast Guard is also coordinating the search for it with commercial vessels in the area. Sonar buoys had been deployed to assist in searching under the surface. The depth of the portion of the ocean the submersible disappeared in was roughly 4,000 m.
Rear Admiral Mauger conceded that the Coast Guard does not have the capabilities to reach it if it got stuck in the wreckage of the Titanic, considering how far out the sub is at sea. They do not have the equipment onsite that is able to do a survey of the bottom. The expedition was the third annual voyage of OceanGate to chronicle the deterioration of the iconic ocean liner that sank in 1912 after it struck an iceberg, killing all but about 700 of the 2,200 passengers and crew.
Submersibles, unlike submarines that leave and return to port under their own power, require a ship to launch and recover them. OceanGate said in its filing with the court, that the 5-person submersible named Titan is capable of diving 4,000 metres with a comfortable safety margin and weighs 20,000 pounds in the air.
The crew members on board the submersible have now been identified. One of them is Billionaire British explorer, Hamish Harding the chair of the aviation company Action Aviation. Another person believed to be on board is former navy commander, a deep diver and French submersible pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet who is the director of underwater research for E/M Group and RMS Titanic. He is also a leading authority on the wreck site having led several expeditions to the Titanic site and it is possible he was in charge of the submersible on the dive.
Mr. Shahzada Dawood, Vice Chairman of Engro Corp which has businesses stretching from power generation to fertilizers and Suleman, his son were also on board, their relatives confirmed in a statement. Sky News reported that Mr. Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate Expeditions is also on board. He had hoped to make visits to the wreckage more accessible to his privately owned 5 person submersible.
It has now emerged that Mr. David Concannon, another guest who is a lawyer and also runs an exploration consultancy firm was to join the trip, but had been forced to cancel at the last minute.
