UPDATED 2:10 P.M.
(Reuters) -The five people aboard a missing submersible are thought to be dead, according to the company that owns the vessel, bringing a grim end on Thursday to the massive search for the vessel that was lost during a voyage to the Titanic.
“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” OceanGate Expeditions said in a statement. “Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time.”
The statement from OceanGate came just minutes after CNN said that debris found on the ocean floor on Thursday near the wreck of the Titanic was assessed to be from the submersible, citing an internal U.S. Coast Guard document.
An unmanned deep-sea robot deployed from a Canadian ship discovered a “debris field” near where the century-old wreck is located, 2-1/2 miles (4 km) below the surface, the U.S. Coast Guuard said earlier on Twitter. The agency has scheduled a press conference for 3 p.m. ET (1900 GMT) to discuss the findings.
Rescue teams from several countries have spent days searching thousands of square miles of open seas with planes and ships for any sign of the 22-foot (6.7-meter) Titan, operated by U.S.-based OceanGate Expeditions.
The submersible lost contact on Sunday morning with its support ship about an hour and 45 minutes into what should have been a two-hour descent.
The five people aboard included the British billionaire and explorer Hamish Harding, 58; Pakistani-born business magnate Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son, Suleman, both British citizens; French oceanographer and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, who had visited the wreck dozens of times; and Stockton Rush, the American founder and chief executive of OceanGate, who was piloting the submersible.
“He is where he really loved being,” Nargeolet’s daughter, Sidonie, said on Thursday before the discovery of the debris was announced.
The detection of undersea noises on Tuesday and Wednesday using sonar buoys dropped from Canadian aircraft had temporarily offered hope that the people on board the submersible were alive and trying to communicate by banging on the hull.
But officials warned that analysis of the sound was inconclusive and that the noises might not have emanated from the Titan at all.
Even if the Titan was intact, the air supply on board was estimated at 96 hours when it entered the water on Sunday around 8 a.m. (1200 GMT), meaning that the occupants likely would have run out of oxygen by Thursday morning.
The Titanic, which sank in 1912 on its maiden voyage after hitting an iceberg, killing more than 1,500 people, lies about 900 miles (1,450 km) east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and 400 miles (640 km) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
The expedition to the wreck, which OceanGate has been operating since 2021, cost $250,000 per person, according to OceanGate’s website.
Questions about Titan’s safety were raised in 2018 during a symposium of submersible industry experts and in a lawsuit by OceanGate’s former head of marine operations, which was settled later that year.
The sweeping search has covered more than 10,000 square miles of ocean – about the size of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. On Thursday, the deployment of two specialized deep-sea unmanned vehicles expanded the effort to the ocean’s depths, where immense pressure and pitch-black darkness had promised to complicate any rescue mission.
The missing submersible and subsequent hunt have captured worldwide attention, in part due to the mythology surrounding the Titanic. The “unsinkable” British passenger liner has inspired both nonfiction and fiction accounts for a century, including the James Cameron blockbuster 1998 movie, which rekindled popular interest in the story.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; editing by Grant McCool)
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(Reuters) – A “debris field” was discovered on Thursday by a robotic deep-sea vessel searching for a missing tourist submersible on the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Experts are reviewing the information gathered by the remotely operated vehicle that was deployed from a Canadian ship, the agency said on Twitter, without offering additional details. A press conference to explain the findings was scheduled for 3 p.m. ET (1900 GMT).
The desperate search for the 22-foot (6.7-meter) Titan submersible had reached a critical stage on Thursday morning, when the air supply for the five people on board was estimated to have nearly run out – or possibly run out.
The van-sized Titan, operated by U.S.-based OceanGate Expeditions, began what was to be a two-hour descent at 8 a.m. (1200 GMT) on Sunday but lost contact with its support ship.
The submersible set off with 96 hours of air, according to the company, which means the oxygen would likely have been exhausted by Thursday morning, assuming the Titan is still intact. Precisely when depends on factors such as whether the craft still has power and how calm those on board are, experts say.
Another robot from a French research ship also dove toward the seabed on Thursday to search for signs of the Titan submersible.
Even if located in time, a rescue operation would face enormous logistical challenges in retrieving the submersible from more than 2 miles below the surface.
Rescuers and relatives of the Titan’s five occupants took hope when the U.S. Coast Guard said on Wednesday that Canadian search planes had recorded undersea noises using sonar buoys earlier that day and on Tuesday.
But remote-controlled underwater vehicles searching where the noises were detected did not yield results, and officials cautioned the sounds might not have originated from the Titan.
U.S. Coast Guard rear admiral John Mauger told broadcaster NBC earlier on Thursday that the search would continue throughout the day.
DEEP-SEA ADVENTURE
The Titanic, which sank in 1912 on its maiden voyage after hitting an iceberg, killing more than 1,500 people, lies about 900 miles (1,450 km) east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and 400 miles (640 km) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
The Titan’s deep-sea excursion to the shipwreck capped a tourist adventure for which OceanGate charges $250,000 per person.
The passengers included British billionaire and adventurer Hamish Harding, 58, and Pakistani-born business magnate Shahzada Dawood, 48, with his 19-year-old son Suleman, who are both British citizens.
French oceanographer and leading Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, and Stockton Rush, the U.S. founder and chief executive of OceanGate, were also on board. Rush is married to a descendant of two of the Titanic victims.
“We’re waiting anxiously, we hardly sleep,” said Mathieu Johann, Nargeolet’s editor at his publisher Harper Collins.
Questions about Titan’s safety were raised in 2018 during a symposium of submersible industry experts and in a lawsuit filed by OceanGate’s former head of marine operations, which was settled later that year.
If Titan were found intact on the ocean floor, a rescue would have to contend with the immense pressures and total darkness at that depth. British Titanic expert Tim Maltin said it would be “almost impossible to effect a sub-to-sub rescue” on the seabed.
It may also be difficult to find the Titan amid the wreck.
“If you’ve seen the Titanic debris field, there’ll be a thousand different objects that size,” said Jamie Pringle, a forensic geoscientist at Keele University in the United Kingdom. “It might be an endless task.”
(Reporting by Steve Gorman and Joseph Ax; Additional reporting by Tim McLaughlin, Rami Ayyub, Tyler Clifford, Louise Dalmasso, Daniel Trotta, Brad Brooks and Ariba Shahid; Editing by Edmund Blair, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Andrew Cawthorne)
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(Reuters) -The desperate search for a missing submersible near the wreck of the Titanic entered a critical juncture on Thursday when air was expected to run out for the five people aboard, but officials vowed to continue scouring the remote North Atlantic.
Five days since the Titan began what should have been a two-hour dive to the century-old shipwreck, a massive multinational hunt over thousands of square miles was still expanding.
A remotely operated vehicle deployed from a Canadian vessel reached the ocean floor to begin searching, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Thursday morning, while another robotic craft from a French research ship was also preparing to dive to the seabed.
The minivan-sized Titan, operated by U.S.-based OceanGate Expeditions, began its descent at 8 a.m. (1200 GMT) on Sunday but lost contact with its support ship.
The submersible set off with 96 hours of air, according to the company, which means the oxygen would be exhausted by Thursday morning, assuming the Titan is still intact. Precisely when depends on factors such as whether the craft still has power and how calm those on board are, experts say.
Rescuers and relatives of the Titan’s five occupants took hope when the U.S. Coast Guard said on Wednesday that Canadian search planes had recorded undersea noises using sonar buoys earlier that day and on Tuesday.
But remote-controlled underwater vehicles searching where the noises were detected had not yielded results, and officials cautioned the sounds might not have originated from the Titan.
Despite the fading hopes, U.S. Coast Guard rear admiral John Mauger told broadcaster NBC the search would continue throughout Thursday.
The French research ship Atalante, equipped with a robotic diving craft capable of reaching where the Titanic lies about 12,500 feet (3,810 meters) below the surface, had arrived in the zone as of Thursday.
It was first using an echo-sounder to accurately map the seabed for the robot’s search to be more targeted, the French marine research institute Ifremer said.
The robot, Victor 6000, has arms that can be remotely controlled to help free a trapped craft or hook it to a ship to haul it up. The U.S. Navy is sending a special salvage system designed to lift large undersea objects.
DEEP-SEA ADVENTURE
The Titanic, which sank in 1912 on its maiden voyage after hitting an iceberg, killing more than 1,500 people, lies about 900 miles (1,450 km) east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and 400 miles (640 km) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
The Titan’s deep-sea excursion to the shipwreck capped a tourist adventure for which OceanGate charges $250,000 per person.
The passengers included British billionaire and adventurer Hamish Harding, 58, and Pakistani-born business magnate Shahzada Dawood, 48, with his 19-year-old son Suleman, who are both British citizens.
French oceanographer and leading Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, and Stockton Rush, the U.S. founder and chief executive of OceanGate, were also on board. Rush is married to a descendant of two of the Titanic victims.
“We’re waiting anxiously, we hardly sleep,” said Mathieu Johann, Nargeolet’s editor at his publisher Harper Collins.
Sean Leet, who heads a company that jointly owns the support ship, the Polar Prince, has said all protocols were followed before the submersible lost contact.
“There’s still life support available on the submersible, and we’ll continue to hold out hope until the very end,” said Leet, chief executive of Miawpukek Horizon Maritime Services.
Questions about Titan’s safety were raised in 2018 during a symposium of submersible industry experts and in a lawsuit filed by OceanGate’s former head of marine operations, which was settled later that year.
Even if the Titan were located, retrieving it would present huge logistical challenges.
If the submersible had managed to return to the surface, spotting it would be difficult in the open sea and it is bolted shut from the outside, so those inside cannot exit without help.
If Titan is on the ocean floor, a rescue would have to contend with the immense pressures and total darkness at that depth. British Titanic expert Tim Maltin said it would be “almost impossible to effect a sub-to-sub rescue” on the seabed.
It may also be difficult to find the Titan amid the wreck.
“If you’ve seen the Titanic debris field, there’ll be a thousand different objects that size,” said Jamie Pringle, a forensic geoscientist at Keele University in the United Kingdom. “It might be an endless task.”
(Reporting by Steve Gorman and Joseph Ax; Additional reporting by Tim McLaughlin, Rami Ayyub, Tyler Clifford, Louise Dalmasso, Daniel Trotta, Brad Brooks and Ariba Shahid; Editing by Edmund Blair, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Andrew Cawthorne)
