Hopes are rising for the crew of a submarine which has gone missing while diving down to the Titanic wreck. Rescue teams are racing against the breathable air clock after noises were detected from the search area for the missing deep-sea vessel near the wreck site of the Titanic.
The submersible, named Titan, lost communication with tour operators on Sunday while about 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland, during a voyage to the shipwreck off the coast of Canada. The Titan has five people on board, including British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, and the 6.7m (22ft) long OceanGate Expeditions vessel may have as little as 24 hours of oxygen left.
The US Coastguard today said it had detected noises in the area which has been taken as a positive sign. After that was announced The Explorers’ Club, of which Mr Harding is a founding member, shared an upbeat message on Wednesday morning.
President Richard Garriot de Cayeux said in a statement: “There is cause for hope, that based on data from the field, we understand that likely signs of life have been detected at the site. They precisely understand the experienced personnel and tech we can help deploy… We believe they are doing everything possible with all the resources they have.”
The US Coast Guard said: “Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater noises in the search area. As a result, ROV (remote operating vehicles) operations were relocated in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises.
“Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue. Additionally, the data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our US Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans.”
The P-3 submarine hunter is described by its manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, as “the ultimate maritime patrol aircraft” and was used in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Hurricane Katrina and the BP Horizon oil rig disaster in the US. Mr Garriot de Cayeux said they are ready to provide the UK-based Magellan’s remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that is certified to travel as deep as 6,000m.
Meanwhile, US media outlet The Rolling Stone reported an internal US government memo said “banging” was detected by Canadian search aircraft in 30-minute intervals on Wednesday. Chris Brown, an explorer and friend of Mr Harding, told BBC Breakfast that making “banging sounds” is “just the sort of thing I would have expected Hamish to come up with”.
Retired UK navy rear admiral Chris Parry said that without an “emitting signal” from the deep-sea vessel near the wreck site of the Titanic it will be “impossible” to find it in the timescale. It is understood the King is being kept informed of the search efforts, as Shahzada Dawood is a long-time supporter of The Prince’s Trust International and The British Asian Trust, which are charities founded by Charles.
