Days after a massive search operation was initiated to locate the submersible Titan that vanished while taking five people down to the wreck of the Titanic, a US Coast Guard official on Wednesday said the crew of the submersible may have less than 20 hours of breathable air remaining, if they are still alive.
Speaking to BBC news, Rear Admiral John Mauger said it is hard to determine exactly how long the crew has, owing to multiple factors. The 20-hour estimate is based on an initial estimate that said the vessel had a 96-hour supply of oxygen, he said.
Meanwhile, a Canadian military surveillance aircraft detected underwater noises in the search area. Searchers then moved an underwater robot to that area for search and rescue efforts. However, those efforts “have yielded negative results but continue.”
“The data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our US Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans,” the Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard statement came after Rolling Stone, citing what it described as internal US Department of Homeland Security emails on the search, said that teams heard “banging sounds in the area every 30 minutes.”
Who is on board the missing submersible?
Lost aboard the vessel are pilot Stockton Rush, the CEO of the company leading the expedition. His passengers are a British adventurer Hamish Harding, two members of a Pakistani business family Shahzada Dawood and Suleman and a Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
Friends, well-wishers and colleagues of Dawood sharedmessages of support and hope for the British-Pakistani billionaire on Twitter.
"Thoughts and Prayers for Pakistani Billionaire Mr. Shahzada Dawood of the Dawood Hercules Corp and trustee of the SETI Institiute in California and his son Sulaiman Dawood who are onboard the missing Titanic-bound sub," the Pakistan Consulate General Los Angeles tweeted.
In fact, social media was filled with people's posts praying for the safe return of the all passengers.
The submersible had a four-day oxygen supply when it was put to sea around 6 a.m. Sunday, according to David Concannon, an adviser to OceanGate Expeditions, which oversaw the mission.
What rescue measures have been taken?
Three C-17 transport planes from the US military have been used to move commercial submersible and support equipment from Buffalo, New York, to St. John's, Newfoundland, to aid in the search, a spokesperson for US Air Mobility Command said.
The Canadian military provided a patrol aircraft and two surface ships, including one that specialises in dive medicine. It also dropped sonar buoys to listen for any sounds from the Titan.
An underwater robot had also started searching in the vicinity of the Titanic.
What are the allegations?
Reports emerged that there were documents that mentioned that OceanGate had been warned there might be catastrophic safety problems posed by the way the experimental vessel was developed. The New York Times first reported about those documents.
David Lochridge, OceanGate's director of marine operations, said in a 2018 lawsuit that the company's testing and certification was insufficient and would “subject passengers to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible,” AP reported.
The company insisted that Lochridge was “not an engineer and was not hired or asked to perform engineering services on the Titan.” The firm also says the vessel under development was a prototype, not the now-missing Titan.
