The US Coast Guard says ships and planes are scouring an area the size of Connecticut to search for the submarine that went missing while visiting the Titanic wreck.
Surface ships and aircraft are searching an area of 13,000 square kilometers, 1,450 kilometers east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger, who is leading the search, said today. That is about the size of the state of Connecticut on the East Coast, while the Titan submersible measures just 6.7 meters long, 2.8 meters wide and 2.5 meters high.
The Titan submersible, carrying five people, began a tour of the Titanic wreckage at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean on June 18 and disappeared the same day. US and Canadian authorities have deployed many resources for the search campaign.
A Canadian P-3 aircraft has dropped sonar buoys in the hope of locating Titan, Mauger said. "We are also expanding our search capabilities. A commercial ship is in the area with remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) that will allow us to search underwater," he added.
ROVs are typically launched from surface ships, with a cable connection that allows the operator to actively navigate and receive images and sonar data from the vehicle in real time. However, with so much Titanic debris, the search team will need time to determine whether the displayed object is debris or the Titan.
US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger speaks at a press conference on June 19 in Boston, Massachusetts. Photo: AP
Mauger said he met with a command group that included representatives of the U.S. Navy, Canadian Coast Guard, Canadian Armed Forces and OceanGate Expedition, the company that operates and owns the Titan submersible.
OceanGate “knows the area better than anyone,” Mauger said. “We are working closely with them to identify priority locations for the underwater search effort.”
The French Oceanographic Institute is sending the Atalante, equipped with a deep-sea robot, to the Atlantic to assist, the French Maritime Ministry announced. The ship is expected to arrive at around 18:00 GMT on June 21 (1:00 AM on June 22 Hanoi time).
The five people on the missing Titan submersible are believed to include British billionaire Hamish Harding, French expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet, OceanGate Expeditions founder Stockton Rush, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.
Rescuers are racing against time, as Titan only has enough oxygen for 96 hours, since it began diving at 6am on June 18. At a press conference at 1pm on June 20 (0am on June 21, Hanoi time), US Coast Guard official Jamie Frederick estimated that the remaining oxygen would only last for 40 hours.
The location of the Titanic wreck in the Atlantic Ocean. Graphic: Guardian
The Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg in 1912, killing 1,514 of the 2,224 people on board. The Titanic's wreckage was found in 1985 at a depth of nearly 4,000 meters, about 600 kilometers off Newfoundland, Canada.
OceanGate Expeditions, headquartered in Everett, Washington, USA, will start offering tours to see the Titanic wreck at a cost of about $250,000 per person from 2020. Tourists will spend 8 days at sea, being taken to the Titanic wreck area by a submersible that can accommodate 5 people.
Nhu Tam (According to AFP, Reuters )
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