Search efforts are intensifying with just hours remaining to save five people on a missing submersible before they run out of oxygen.
The vessel, named Titan, lost communication with tour operators on Sunday while about 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland, during a voyage to the Titanic shipwreck off the coast of Canada.
As of Wednesday afternoon it was thought just 20 hours of oxygen remained, meaning it would run out at some point on Thursday morning.
The US coast guard has been leading an international rescue effort which was stepped up after underwater noises were heard on Tuesday and again on Wednesday, although experts have been unable to determine the cause of the sound.
The area of the search has been expanded, with the surface search now about 10,000 square miles, and the sub-surface search about 2.5 miles deep.
The 6.7m (22ft)-long OceanGate Expeditions vessel, which has British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding on board, reportedly had a 96-hour oxygen supply in case of emergencies.
Also in the undersea craft are UK-based businessman Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman Dawood, and OceanGate’s chief executive and founder Stockton Rush, reportedly with French submersible pilot Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
The coast guard had five surface vessels searching for Titan on Wednesday and they expected there to be 10 by Thursday, Captain Jamie Frederick said at a press conference on Wednesday.
He added: “What I can tell you is, we’re searching in the area where the noises were detected, and we’ll continue to do so and we hope that when we’re able to get additional ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) which will be there in the morning, the intent will be to continue to search in those areas where the noises were detected, and if they’re continuing to be detected, and then put additional ROVs down on the last known position where the search was originally taking place.”
Asked whether the mission was changing to become a recovery search, he said: “This is a search and rescue mission 100%, we are smack dab in the middle of search and rescue and will continue to put every available asset that we have in an effort to find the Titan and the crew members.”
Titan is believed to be about 900 miles east and 400 miles south of Newfoundland. It is not known how deep the vessel is, with the seabed being around 3,800m from the surface.
This is a search and rescue mission 100%, we are smack dab in the middle of search and rescue and will continue to put every available asset that we have in an effort to find the Titan and the crew members— Captain Jamie Frederick, US coast guard
Questions have been raised about the safety of the vessel after it emerged earlier in the week that a former employee of OceanGate had raised concerns over “safety and quality control issues regarding the Titan to OceanGate executive management”.
David Lochridge, OceanGate’s former director of marine operations, claimed in an August 2018 court document that he was wrongfully fired after flagging worries about the company’s alleged “refusal to conduct critical, non-destructive testing of the experimental design”.
On Wednesday Kathleen Cosnett, a cousin of Mr Harding, 58, told the Telegraph that OceanGate’s eight-hour delay before contacting the authorities was “far too long”.
She said: “It’s very frightening. It took so long for them to get going to rescue them, it’s far too long. I would have thought three hours would be the bare minimum.”
Sean Leet, co-founder and chairman of Horizon Maritime Services, which owns the Polar Prince mothership from which Titan launched, defended the company at a separate press conference on Wednesday.
He said: “OceanGate runs an extremely safe operation.
OceanGate runs an extremely safe operation— Sean Leet, Horizon Maritime Services
“Our full focus right now is getting that submersible located and getting those people brought back safely.”
Mr Leet praised how quickly specialist marine craft have been scrambled to help in the search for the missing vessel.
He said: “I’ve been in the marine industry since a very young age and I’ve never seen equipment of that nature move that quickly.
“The response from the US Coast Guard, the US military, the folks at the airport, the people here – various companies were involved in the mobilisation, it was done flawlessly.”
Mr Leet also said they are “very aware of the time sensitivity around this mission”.
And he said some of the equipment at the site of the search for the missing Titan vessel is “certainly capable of reaching those depths” where Titan is presumed to be.
