The King is being kept informed on the search for the submersible that went missing during a dive to the Titanic shipwreck, as the US Coast Guard warned it could have just 40 hours of breathable air left.
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.
Among the five people aboard the vessel are Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman.
Shahzada Dawood is a longtime supporter of The Prince’s Trust International and The British Asian Trust, both of which are charities founded by Charles.
As such, it is understood that Charles has asked to be kept fully up to date on the situation – and that his thoughts and prayers are with the Dawood family and all those involved in the incident.
On Tuesday, Captain Jamie Frederick of the US Coast Guard said a “unified command” of multiple agencies was formed on Monday to tackle the “very complex problem” of finding the missing submersible, which has so far “not yielded any results”.
Speaking at a press conference in Boston on Tuesday, Captain Frederick said: “So, first of all, it’s an estimate, right?
“We know from the data we were using, a starting point was 96 hours.
“We know at this point we’re approximately about 40/41 hours (of oxygen left).
“We know there’s about 40 hours of breathable air left, based on that initial report.”
Rescuers are in a race against time to find British billionaire Hamish Harding and four other passengers on board the 6.7 metres (22ft) long OceanGate Expeditions vessel.
They are UK-based businessman Mr Dawood and his son, reportedly together with French submersible pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet.
On Tuesday, OceanGate confirmed that its chief executive and founder Stockton Rush “is aboard the submersible as a member of the crew”.
Captain Frederick was non-committal when asked if there is any way to retrieve the submersible and save the five on board if it can be located.
“So, right now all of our efforts are focused on finding the sub,” he said.
“What I will tell you is we have a group of our nation’s best experts in the unified command and if we get to that point, those experts will be looking at what the next course of action is.”
He added: “On Sunday, the co-ordination command centre in Boston received a report from the Canadian expedition vessel Polar Prince of an overdue 21 foot submarine, Titan, with five people on board.
“The Titan was attempting to dive on the wreck of the Titanic, approximately 900 miles east of Cape Cod and 400 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland.
“Approximately one hour and 45 minutes into the scheduled dive, the Polar Prince lost all communication with the Titan, Polar Prince conducted an initial search and then requested Coast Guard assistance.
“The US Coast Guard in Boston assumed the responsibility of search-and-rescue mission co-ordinator and immediately launched search assets.
“Since Sunday, the Coast Guard has co-ordinated search efforts with the US and Canadian Coast Guard, Air National Guard aircraft and the Polar Prince, which has searched a combined 7,600 square miles, an area larger than the state of Connecticut.
“These search efforts have focused on both surface, with C-130 aircraft searching by sight and with radar, and subsurface, with P-3 aircraft we’re able to drop and monitor sonar buoys.
“To date, those search efforts have not yielded any results.”
As well as ongoing plane searches, he said: “Today the vessel Deep Energy, a 194 metre pipe laying vessel, arrived on scene with underwater ROV (remotely operated vehicle) capability.
“They have rendezvoused with the vessel Polar Prince, and commenced an ROV dive at the last known position of the Titan and the approximate position of the Titanic wreck. That operation is currently ongoing.”
He said there are also several private research vessels with “ROV capabilities that are making preparations to join the efforts”.
But he later added: “ROVs have different capability, it’s our understanding the current ROV that is deployed at the site now has some limited capability, it has a camera onboard.”
He added: “On behalf of all the men and women of the United States Coast Guard and our search partners, we offer our most heartfelt thoughts and prayers for the five crew members, their families and their loved ones.
“Our crews are working around the clock to ensure that we were doing everything possible to locate the Titan and the five crew members.”
He said the unified command includes the United States Coast Guard, the United States Navy, Canadian Armed Forces and Coast Guard and the Titan’s parent company OceanGate.
