Titan sub search: underwater noises heard in hunt for lost Titanic tour vessel in North Atlantic
- Sounds were heard as search and rescue teams swept the North Atlantic for the deep-sea Titan submersible
- The clock is ticking down on the vessel’s air supply after it went missing on Sunday descending to the Titanic wreckage
03:30
Search for missing Titanic tour sub continues as on-board air supply limit approaches
Search teams detected underwater sounds while scanning the North Atlantic for a tourist submersible that vanished with five people aboard during a deep-sea voyage to the century-old wreck of the Titanic, the US Coast Guard said.
The detection of the sounds by Canadian aircraft was reported by the Coast Guard as the clock ticked down to the last 24 hours of the craft’s presumed oxygen supply.
Robotic undersea search operations were diverted to the area but there was still no tangible sign of the missing vessel, the Coast Guard said on Twitter on Wednesday.
The 6.7-metre-long pilot-driven submersible Titan, operated by US-based OceanGate Expeditions, lost contact with its parent surface vessel on Sunday morning about one hour, 45 minutes into what should have been a two-hour dive to the site of the world’s most famous shipwreck.
The mini-sub was designed to remain underwater for 96 hours, according to its specifications, giving its occupants until Thursday morning EST (Thursday evening Hong Kong time) before air runs out, assuming that the Titan was still intact.