United States Coast Guard leads the search for the submersible Titan disappeared more than 600 kilometers south of Saint John, on the Island of Newfoundland (Canada), after losing communication last Sunday, one hour and forty-five minutes after starting the descent to explore the remains of the Titanic.
What news has there been in the last hours?
A Canadian surveillance plane has detected underwater noises during the search for the submersible. The US Coast Guard said via Twitter that, finding has led to relocating search operations in an attempt to explore the origin of the detected sounds. those searches had “gave negative results” so far, but they continue, according to a statement.
What could have happened to Titan?
Eric Fusil, Associate Professor and Director of the Shipbuilding Center at the University of Adelaide, described several possible scenarios to the AP agency, including power outage, fire, flood, or becoming entangled in something. A fire, she said, could disable the ship’s systems or create toxic gases that could render the crew unconscious. A flood would be even more dramatic, resulting in an almost instantaneous implosion.
Stage more optimistic would be a loss of power that would allow the vessel to return to the surface, where it would wait for search teams to find it, Fusil said. But there are few chances of success. “The bottom line is that it’s easier to go and rescue people in space than it is to dive that deep and rescue people because we can’t communicate easily,” she adds. “It’s still a very, very risky endeavor, even with today’s technology.”
How is the search operation?
The US Coast Guard, which is coordinating the deployment, claims to have tracked some 25,000 square kilometers. US and Canadian coast guard ships and planes, equipped with high technology, participate in the operation: cameras, sonars and robots.
He Canadian research icebreaker Polar Prince, which led to Titan to the point of immersion, is conducting searches on the surface with the help of the Boeing P-8 Poseidon. The Canadian military has launched sonar buoys to listen for any possible sounds from the Titan. In addition, a Royal Canadian Navy ship is heading to the area. They have already joined Deep Energy, a pipe laying vessel, which is equipped with an underwater exploration robot.
The French Government has also announced the shipment of its ship Atalanta, equipped with an underwater robot capable of explorations at great depth. More ships will arrive in the next few hours.
What are the chances of finding them alive?
rescue teams they fight against time to locate them and fear two problems inside: the air reserve that will run out on Thursday at 12 noon, Spanish peninsular time, and the cold at great depth.
Search and rescue operations at sea It’s like “looking for a needle in a haystack” Retired Captain Bobbie Scholley, a former US Navy diver, told CNN. “The hard thing is finding the submersible. And once you find it, there are all kinds of situations about how to get that submersible to the surface and rescue the crew,” Scholley said. It takes about two hours to go down from the surface to depth. of 4 kilometers, where lie the remains of the Titanic.
How is the submersible?
OceanGate has described the Titan as “the largest of all deep-diving submersibles”. Made of titanium-reinforced carbon fiber filaments, it weighs about 9,000 kilograms and is capable of descending up to four kilometers deep “with a comfortable margin of safety,” according to documents filed by the company in April in a US District Court. USA in Virginia who oversees Titanic affairs.
When and where did the Titan disappear?
The submersible made the dive on Sunday and its support vessel lost contact with it about an hour and 45 minutes later, according to the US Coast Guard. The Titan was located about 700 kilometers south of St. John’s, Newfoundland, according to Canada’s Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The Titan was launched from an icebreaker that was contracted by OceanGate, the company responsible for the trip, and it was not the first time that he had made tourist trips to the remains of the Titanic in the North Atlantic. The US Coast Guard said Tuesday that the submersible had about 40 hours of oxygen left, meaning the supply could run out as soon as Thursday.
Who are the five passengers on board?
The Titan has capacity for a maximum of five people, four tourists and a pilot. In this expedition they travel:
- British billionaire businessman and explorer Hamish Harding
- the French Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 73-year-old, considered one of the world’s leading experts on the Titanic
- the CEO of the company OceanGate Expeditions, Stockton Rush, responsible for the trip and pilot of the Titan
- UK-based Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman Dawood.
The company OceanGate Expeditions charged $250,000 for the adventure to see the remains of the ocean liner. The Titanic is located about 600 kilometers off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, at a depth of 3,800 meters below the sea surface. his shipwreck it occurred in 1912 and resulted in more than 1,500 deaths, although the remains of the wreck were not located until 1985.
