The missing Titanic submersible is expected to run out of oxygen at Midday today. Finding it in time now requires a ‘miracle’, despite the ongoing occurrence of banging sounds every 30 minutes from the depths, which have not yet been located.
On Sunday, the vessel named Titan lost communication with tour operators while approximately 435 miles south of St. John’s, Newfoundland, during a voyage to the Titanic off the coast of Canada. The last ‘ping’ of its homing device was heard directly above the world’s most famous seawreck on Sunday afternoon.
A countdown has commenced as the vital oxygen supply is expected to deplete at 12.08pm GMT. The individuals trapped onboard, known as the Titan Five, include British billionaire Hamish Harding, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, French navy veteran PH Nargeolet, and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman.
A flotilla of at least ten ships, two robot subs, and several aircraft hover above the Titanic, scanning the Atlantic for any sign of Titan while sonar continues to detect a banging noise emanating from the depths. However, the Coastguard admits uncertainty as to whether the sound originates from the five men hammering on the side of their sub or from the natural sounds of the sea, possibly including debris falling from the Titanic itself, located 12,500ft below the surface.
The French research vessel L’Atalante represents the great final hope, having arrived in the search zone at around 2am GMT. On board is the Victor 6000, a robot sub capable of reaching depths of 20,000ft. Equipped with arms that can cut cables or dislodge a trapped or stranded vessel, it may be able to attach a cable to the sub before the latter is lifted several miles to the surface by a giant winch known as the Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System. A ship called the Horizon Arctic, which departed from Newfoundland yesterday, is believed to have one of these winches and is racing to the area but will not arrive until later today.
Even if the submersible is discovered, it will still require several hours to retrieve the Titan, potentially exhausting the oxygen supply before reaching the surface. Rescue efforts have persisted throughout the night, growing increasingly desperate, as there are only a few hours remaining to locate the source of the ‘banging’ from the deep and save the trapped individuals.
Oisin Fanning, who has been on board the Titan submersible twice, reported to BBC Breakfast this morning, “There are no noises down there. There are no noises on the Titanic – no banging, no nothing. So the likelihood is that it is someone tapping every 30 minutes to indicate where they are.” Dr. David Gallo, an oceanographer and water search expert, stated today, “It’s going to be almost impossible. We need a miracle — but miracles do happen.”