Missing Titanic tour submarine with 70 to 96 hours of oxygen left

U.S. and Canadian rescue teams were searching Monday for a submersible carrying five people to the wreckage site of the Titanic after the submarine vanished deep in the Atlantic Ocean with four days' or less worth of survival capability.

The U.S. Coast Guard in Boston is leading the search for the missing watercraft, which the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, said was reported overdue Sunday night about 435 miles south of St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Rear Adm. John Mauger, commander of the First Coast Guard District, said two aircraft each from the U.S. and Canada were involved in the search, along with a commercial ship, and that further assets will be added as the pursuit continues into the night.

The operation's location − about 900 miles east of Cape Cod and up to 13,000 feet deep − complicates the task, as does the need to look both on the surface of the water and below, he said.

"It is a challenge to conduct a search in that remote area,'' Mauger said at a news conference, "but we are deploying all available assets to make sure that we can locate the craft and rescue the people on board.''

OceanGate adviser David Concannon told The Associated Press the company lost contact with the submersible Sunday morning.

Concannon, who said he planned to go on the dive but had to cancel because of a matter regarding another client, said officials are rushing to get to the site a remotely operated vehicle that can reach a depth of 20,000 feet. The Titanic wreckage is believed to lie 12,500 feet deep.

Action Aviation said its company chairman, British businessman Hamish Harding, was one of the travelers on board. The experienced adventurer went into space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket last June.

“Every attempt is being made for a rescue mission,'' Mark Butler, the company’s managing director, told the AP. "There is still plenty of time to facilitate a rescue mission. There is equipment on board for survival in this event. We’re all hoping and praying he comes back safe and sound.”

Richard Garriott, president of the Explorers Club − a New York-based group that supports scientific exploration − said he saw Harding a week ago and “his excitement was palpable.''

“I know he was looking forward to conducting research at the site,” Garriott wrote in a letter to members. “We all join in the fervent hope that the submersible is located as quickly as possible and the crew is safe.”

In 2021, OceanGate Expeditions began what it expected to become an annual voyage to the wreckage. The company had said it would include about 40 paying tourists to the team of archaeologists and marine biologists on the trips.

The initial group of tourists spent $100,000 to $150,000 apiece.

#oceangate #submarine #Titanic

Search underway for Titanic tourist submarine with 70-96 hours of oxygen left,titanic submarine,atlantic ocean,titanic submarine missing,missing submarine,oceangate expeditions,us news,breaking news,hamish harding,titanic wreck