Updates: US Coast Guard finds debris during search for Titan
Officials searching for the lost submersible the Titan reached a critical juncture on Thursday morning at 6 am EST, when the oxygen supply was expected to run out on the vessel.
The U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday a debris field has been found near the Titanic, as events continue to unfold in the harrowing search for the five people lost beneath the North Atlantic Ocean in a submarine-like vessel operated by OceanGate Expedition.
The Titan, which is the size of a small van, has been missing for five days, after setting out on a two-hour dive to view the 1912 shipwreck of the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean floor.
Co-founder of OceanGate Guillermo Söhnlein told CNN he believes the survival-time of the lost crew could be extended by their expertise, which would include relaxing as much as possible to conserve the supply of oxygen.
The vessel had 96 hours’ worth of air when it set out with the other co-founder and CEO of OceanGate, Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, Hamish Harding and Paul-Henri Nargeolet on board.
The U.S. Coast Guard that a remotely operated vehicle deployed from a Canadian vessel had reached the ocean floor on Thursday.
Rescuers have vowed to continue the search on Thursday, which also brought on a robotic craft from a French research ship. Britain has also embedded a navy submariner with the team searching for the missing submersible.
As the result, A ‘debris field’ has been discovered near the Titanic wreckage, as the search continues for the missing Titan submersible, the US Coast Guard has said. The Coast Guard said on Twitter that the debris field was found “within the search area” by an ROV, and that experts are “evaluating the information”.
It appears the find was made on the sea floor near the wreckage of the Titanic using the Horizon Arctic’s ROV. Rear Admiral John Mauger, who is leading the operation, previously had told Sky News that the team have ROVs “that are working along the path line where the planned dive had taken place for the Titan submersible. “And we have the ability to both search and rescue.”
