Rescuers make last push as final hours of oxygen on Titanic submersible tick down

DUBAI: The race against time to find a submersible that disappeared on its way to the Titanic wreckage site entered a new phase of desperation on Thursday morning as the final hours of oxygen possibly left on board the tiny vessel ticked off the clock.

Rescuers have rushed more ships and vessels to the site of the disappearance, hoping underwater sounds they detected for a second straight day might help narrow their search in the urgent, international mission. But the crew had only a four-day oxygen supply when the vessel, called the Titan, set off around 6 a.m. Sunday.

Even those who expressed optimism warned that many obstacles remain: from pinpointing the vessel's location, to reaching it with rescue equipment, to bringing it to the surface assuming it's still intact. And all that has to happen before the passengers' oxygen supply runs out.

The full area being searched was twice the size of Connecticut in waters as deep as 13,200 feet (4,020 meters). Captain Jamie Frederick of the First Coast Guard District said authorities were still holding out hope of saving the five passengers onboard.

This is a search and rescue mission, 100%, he said Wednesday.

The area of the North Atlantic where the Titan vanished Sunday is also prone to fog and stormy conditions, making it an extremely challenging environment to conduct a search-and-rescue mission, said Donald Murphy, an oceanographer who served as chief scientist of the Coast Guard's International Ice Patrol.

Meanwhile, newly uncovered allegations suggest there had been significant warnings made about vessel safety during the submersible's development.
Frederick said while the sounds that have been detected offered a chance to narrow the search, their exact location and source hadn't yet been determined.
“We don't know what they are, to be frank, he said.

Retired Navy Capt. Carl Hartsfield, now the director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Systems Laboratory, said the sounds have been described as banging noises, but he warned that search crews have to put the whole picture together in context and they have to eliminate potential manmade sources other than the Titan.

The report was encouraging to some experts because submarine crews unable to communicate with the surface are taught to bang on their submersible's hull to be detected by sonar.

The U.S. Navy said in a statement Wednesday that it was sending a specialised salvage system that's capable of hoisting large, bulky and heavy undersea objects such as aircraft or small vessels.”

The Titan weighs 20,000 pounds (9,071 kilograms). The U.S. Navy's Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System is designed to lift up to 60,000 pounds (27,216kilograms), the Navy said on its website.

Lost aboard the vessel are pilot Stockton Rush, the CEO of the company leading the expedition. His passengers are a British adventurer, two members of a Pakistani business family and a Titanic expert. OceanGate Expeditions oversaw the mission.

Authorities reported the 22-foot (6.7-meter) carbon-fiber vessel overdue Sunday night, setting off the search in waters about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John's.

Officials have said the vessel had a 96-hour oxygen supply, giving them a deadline of early Thursday morning to find and raise the Titan.

Frank Owen, a submarine search and rescue expert, said the estimated oxygen supply is a useful target for searchers, but is only based on a nominal amount of consumption.” Owen said the diver on board the Titan would likely be advising passengers to do anything to reduce your metabolic levels so that you can actually extend this.”

At least 46 people successfully traveled on OceanGate's submersible to the Titanic wreck site in 2021 and 2022, according to letters the company filed with a U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, that oversees matters involving the Titanic shipwreck.

One of the company's first customers characterized a dive he made to the site two years ago as a kamikaze operation.

Imagine a metal tube a few meters long with a sheet of metal for a floor. You can't stand. You can't kneel. Everyone is sitting close to or on top of each other, said Arthur Loibl, a retired businessman and adventurer from Germany. You can't be claustrophobic.

During the 2.5-hour descent and ascent, the lights were turned off to conserve energy, he said, with the only illumination coming from a fluorescent glow stick.

The dive was repeatedly delayed to fix a problem with the battery and the balancing weights. In total, the voyage took 10.5 hours.

OceanGate has been criticised for the use of a simple commercially available video game controller to steer the Titan. But the company has said that many of the vessel's parts are off-the-shelf because they have proved to be dependable.
It's meant for a 16-year-old to throw it around, and is super durable, Rush told the CBC in an interview last year while he demonstrated by throwing the controller around the Titan's tiny cabin.