As US and Canadian rescuers are searching for the missing Oceangate sub that disappeared Monday morning while carrying a group of crew and tourists to see the sunken Titanic remains, one expert says it is unlikely that they will be found 'in time' as life-supporting oxygen is due to run out 6 am BST, Thursday.
Former Captain of a Navy salvage and rescue ship, Capt Sean P. Tortora, told the Mirror: "I can say any rescue at the depth would be highly unlikely."
Another expert, former Royal Navy Rear Admiral, Chris Parry, said that the vessel could have fallen foul of a “catastrophic failure” or even have become tangled up in the debris of the famed shipwreck. "It’s very concerning indeed,” he said.
“Having listened to the timescale, it’s very worrying," noted Parry.
Currently, a number of rescue efforts are underway as teams from Boston, Newfoundland, and other available Coast Guard ships are doing what they can to locate the submersible.
Parry went on to describe the possible “optimistic” and “catastrophic” circumstances that could have taken place hundreds or even thousands of feet below the surface of the water.
“There’s an optimistic option, and that’s that it’s either lost an umbilical communication with the surface or indeed there’s been a malfunction and the submarine continues to operate but obviously out of contact with its mother ship,” he said.
“Obviously, on the other end of the scale, there could have been an accident. It could have become entangled in the wreckage of the Titanic. It could indeed have had a catastrophic failure," Parry muses.
“The answer is we don’t know just yet. What we do know, of course, is the wreck site is off the grand banks, it’s a long way from anywhere and the nearest rescue facility will be on the East Coast of the United States."
World-renowned explorer Hamish Harding is among the five that were on board, as Harding tweeted and posted on Instagram about his excitement for his upcoming trip on the Oceangate submersible.
Hamish Harding’s family confirmed to media that the British businessman was aboard the missing OceanGate Expeditions submarine on Monday.
“We started steaming from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada yesterday and are planning to start dive operations around 4am tomorrow morning. Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do,” Harding wrote alongside picture of himself signing a banner celebrating the expedition.
