The US Coast Guard said a remote-operated vehicle “reached the sea floor” and began searching for the missing Titanic submersible early Thursday — even though the officials believe the sub has likely run out of oxygen.
“The Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic has deployed an ROV that has reached the sea floor and began its search for the missing sub,” the agency said.
It added that “The French vessel L’Atalante is preparing their ROV to enter the water.”
The accelerating search efforts continued Thursday even as the sub likely ran out of oxygen, by officials’ calculations, at about 7:08 a.m.
When it took off Sunday, the sub carried 96 hours of oxygen for the crew of five, though experts have cautioned that their initial estimates may be inexact.
Rear Adm. John Mauger of the US Coast Guard told the “Today” show the search efforts would continue at full force throughout the day as the Magellan “working class” remotely operated vehicle joins the search.
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The vehicle, or ROV, has advanced capabilities that include a manipulator arm capable of lifting a hull point to the surface of the water, NBC reported, citing a prior interview with Explorers Club president Richard Garriott, who criticized the Coast Guard for not utilizing the Magellan ROV sooner.
Responding to that criticism, Mauger noted: “We really had to start from scratch and bring all the capability that was available to bear on this problem.”
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According to Mauger, officials decided to prioritize what was closest to the site.
“People’s will to live really needs to be accounted for as well, so we’re continuing to search and proceed with rescue efforts by bringing this new capability online this morning,” he said.
Those aboard the missing sub include Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate who served as the vessel’s pilot, British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani tech and energy mogul Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Sulaiman, and famed Titanic explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
The Coast Guard said it received word from OceanGate about the missing submersible eight hours after it lost contact with its mothership, the Polar Prince.
The sub disappeared two hours after it submerged off the coast of Newfoundland on Sunday afternoon.
Tourist submersible exploring Titanic wreckage disappears in Atlantic Ocean
What we know
A submersible on a pricey tourist expedition to the Titanic shipwreck in the Atlantic Ocean has vanished with likely only four days’ worth of oxygen. The US Coast Guard said the small submarine began its journey underwater with five passengers Sunday morning, and the Canadian research vessel that it was working with lost contact with the crew about an hour and 45 minutes into the dive.
It was later found that a top-secret team with the US Navy detected the implosion of the Titan submersible on Sunday, but did not stop search efforts due because the evidence was “not definitive” and a decision was made to “make every effort to save the lives on board.”
Who was on board?
The family of world explorer Hamish Harding confirmed on Facebook that he was among the five traveling in the missing submarine. Harding, a British businessman who previously paid for a space ride aboard the Blue Origin rocket last year, shared a photo of himself on Sunday signing a banner for OceanGate’s latest voyage to the shipwreck.
Also onboard were Pakistani energy and tech mogul Shanzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman, 19; famed French diver and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush.
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What’s next?
“We’re doing everything we can do to locate the submersible and rescue those on board,” Rear Adm. John Mauger told reporters. “In terms of the hours, we understood that was 96 hours of emergency capability from the operator.
Coast Guard officials said they are currently focusing all their efforts on locating the sub first before deploying any vessel capable of reaching as far below as 12,500 feet where the Titanic wreck is located.
Mauger, first district commander and leader of the search-and-rescue mission, said the US was coordinating with Canada on the operation.
The debris recovered from the US Coast Guard’s Titan submersible search site early Thursday included “a landing frame and a rear cover from the submersible.”
After search efforts to recover the stranded passengers proved futile, and bits of debris from the submersible were found, it was decided that the sub imploded, which correlated with an anomaly picked up by the US Navy in the same area.
The Coast Guard later reported that all 5 passengers were confirmed dead, and rescue efforts were halted.
Unlike a normal submarine, a submersible is unable to get to the bottom of the ocean and back without its mothership.
That means that without radio contact with the Polar Prince, the Titan will remain lost in the depths of the sea.
