BOSTON - A multinational mission to find a missing submersible near the Titanic wreck is still focused on rescuing the five-member crew alive, the US Coast Guard insisted on Thursday, despite fears that the vessel’s oxygen may already have run out.
Based on the submersible’s capacity to hold up to 96 hours of emergency air, rescuers had estimated that the passengers could run out of oxygen in the early hours of Thursday.
But as that possible deadline passed, US Coast Guard Rear-Admiral John Mauger said rescuers were “fully committed”.
“People’s will to live really needs to be accounted for as well. And so we’re continuing to search and proceed with rescue efforts,” he told NBC’s Today show.
A remotely operated vehicle deployed from a Canadian vessel reached the ocean floor to begin searching, the US Coast Guard said on Thursday morning, while another robotic craft from a French research ship was also preparing to dive to the seabed.
The minivan-sized Titan, operated by US-based OceanGate Expeditions, began its descent at 8am on Sunday but lost contact with its support ship.
Despite the fading hopes, Rear-Admiral Mauger told broadcaster NBC the search would continue throughout Thursday.
The French research ship Atalante, equipped with a robotic diving craft capable of reaching where the Titanic lies about 3,810m below the surface, had arrived in the zone as of Thursday.
It was first using an echo-sounder to accurately map the seabed for the robot’s search to be more targeted, the French marine research institute Ifremer said.
The robot, Victor 6000, has arms that can be remotely controlled to help free a trapped craft or hook it to a ship to haul it up. The US Navy is sending a special salvage system designed to lift large undersea objects.
A surge of assets and experts have joined the operation, and sonar has picked up unidentified underwater noises.
Organisers of the multinational response – which includes US and Canadian military planes, coast guard ships and teleguided robots – are focusing their efforts in the North Atlantic close to the underwater noises detected by sonar.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMicWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnN0cmFpdHN0aW1lcy5jb20vd29ybGQvdW5pdGVkLXN0YXRlcy91cy1jb2FzdC1ndWFyZC1zdGlsbC1mb2N1c2VkLW9uLXN1Yi1yZXNjdWUtZGVzcGl0ZS1veHlnZW4tY3J1bmNo0gEA?oc=5
2023-06-22 12:49:50Z
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