Rescue teams from the US and Canada are intensively searching for a tourist submarine that lost contact and disappeared while diving to see the wreck of the Titanic over the weekend, the BBC writes.
There were five people in the small submarine on the 18th of June when it disappeared and the vessel has not yet been found. Government agencies, the US and Canadian navies, and commercial deep-sea research companies are participating in the search.
On the afternoon of Monday, the 19th of June, it was assumed that the submarine still had air reserves for four days.
US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said at a press conference that the focus is now on directing as many searchers as possible to the area.
The US Coast Guard has informed that the research vessel Polar Prince conducted a search of the ocean surface on the 19th of June. Polar Prince was also used as a support ship on the 18th of June when the submarine disappeared.
The missing vessel is the Titan submarine of the tourism company OceanGate, which was also used by CBS journalist David Pogue to get to the Titanic wreck last year. He told the BBC that when the ship is directly above the submarine, it is possible to communicate via short text messages and there is no other means of communication. The journalist added that
it is impossible for those in the submarine to get out on their own, as it is closed from the outside.
OceanGate’s website lists information about the three submarines the company owns, of which only the Titan can dive deep enough to reach the wreck of the Titanic. Tickets, the price of which includes an eight-day trip and diving to see the wreck of the Titanic at a depth of 3800 meters, cost 250 thousand dollars each.
British millionaire Hamish Harding is also among the missing. He announced on social media over the weekend that he is proud to finally announce that he too will be taking part in the trip to the Titanic wreck.
OceanGate has informed that it has lost contact with one of the research vessels and that all attention is currently being paid to those on board the submarine and their families, and also expressed its gratitude for the support in the search operation. The company calls a submarine trip
“an opportunity to take a step outside the everyday life and discover something truly extraordinary.”
Each dive to the Titanic wreck takes about eight hours in total. According to the company’s website, one expedition is currently underway, and two more were planned for June 2024.
The Titanic sank in April 1912, and its wreck was discovered in 1985 and has been intensively studied ever since.