A Plane Looking for the Missing ‘Titan’ Sub Heard ‘Banging Noises’ Where the Vessel Disappeared
A small bit of noise may have given those searching for a submersible that went missing en route to the Titanic wreck on Sunday a big bit of hope.
A Canadian surveillance plane detected “banging” in 30-minute intervals from a remote area in the North Atlantic near where the Titan sub disappeared, according to an internal memo sent by the Department of Homeland Security’s National Operations Center that Rolling Stone obtained.
“The P8 deployed sonobuoys, which reported a contact in a position close to the distress position,” the DHS email read. “The P8 heard banging sounds in the area every 30 minutes. Four hours later additional sonar was deployed and banging was still heard.”
The announcement did not say exactly when the underwater noises were detected on Tuesday nor what may have caused them. Remotely operated vehicles were subsequently relocated in an attempt to find the origin of the sounds, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Twitter early Wednesday. The ROV searches have so far been unsuccessful but will continue in the area off the coast of Newfoundland.
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The Coast Guard also said the data from the aircraft has been shared with U.S. Navy experts for further analysis that will be considered in future search plans.
Operated by OceanGate Expeditions, Titan lost contact with Canadian expedition ship M.V. Polar Prince about an hour and 45 minutes into its dive on Sunday. It could have reached a depth of around 6,233 feet in that time. (For context, the Titanic wreck is about 12,500 feet below sea level.) Five people were on board the sub when it began its descent, including OceanGate’s CEO Stockton Rush, British businessman and explorer Hamish Harding, French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and British entrepreneur Shahzada Dawood and his teenage son, Suleman.
Search authorities estimate that if the 21-foot vessel remains intact, it may have less than a day’s worth of oxygen left. The divers were reportedly sealed inside the sub using external bolts, which means they can’t escape from it by themselves even if it resurfaces. It will also require highly specialized equipment to retrieve the sub if it is found.
So far, an area of 10,000 square miles, roughly the size of Massachusetts, has been covered in the search, as reported by The New York Times. The search operation is also expanding to include private deep-sea vessels and other resources. Rear admiral John Mauger of the U.S. Coast Guard previously said the team is deploying all available assets to make sure that they can locate the craft and rescue the people on board.
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