Authorities announced that efforts to locate the Titan submersible, which failed to return Sunday from an expedition to the wreckage of the Titanic, “have not yielded any results” at a Boston press conference Tuesday afternoon. Capt. Jamie Frederick, response coordinator for the First Coast Guard District said that searchers have covered an area of 7,600 square miles so far, an area larger than the size of Connecticut. He added that, based off initial reports that the vessel carried 96 hours worth of breathable air when it submerged, the passengers on board have a little over 40 hours of air left. “This is a very complex search, and the unified team is working around the clock to bring all available assets and expertise to bear as quickly as possible,” Frederick said.
Len Hickey, public affairs officer at the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which is assisting with the search, told Rolling Stone on Tuesday that Canada is sending more ships to the search area, including the Royal Canadian Navy ship HMCS Glace Bay, which will provide a specialized dive medicine team and a six-person hyperbaric recompression chamber.
The Titan submerged Sunday morning 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland on a journey to the wreckage of the Titanic. According to the Coast Guard, the Titan lost contact with its support ship at the surface one hour and 45 minutes into the dive.
The search, involving multiple agencies, aircraft, boats, and sonar equipment, has been a race against time since the start, since the craft reportedly had 96 hours worth of oxygen available when it disappeared below the surface of the Atlantic. Previous reports on the search for the missing submersible have stated that the Navy’s manned rescue craft can only descend about 2,000 feet underwater, and that if the divers were discovered closer to the 14,000 foot depth of the Titanic wreckage, an underwater drone would be the only way of reaching them.
The Titan is a 21-foot-long craft from the tourism company OceanGate Expeditions. It’s a “Cyclops-class” vehicle with a single porthole for observation, designed to take paying customers on deep-sea adventures. In a statement, OceanGate said, “Our entire focus is on the crew members in the submersible and their families,” adding, “We are exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely.” The company also offered thanks for “the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible.”
The four passengers onboard alongside a pilot have been identified. The Pakistan-based Engro Corporation announced Tuesday that the company’s vice chairman, Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, were among the divers. The father and son “embarked on a journey to visit the remnants of the Titanic” before “contact was lost with their submersible craft,” the announcement stated. A representative confirmed to the press that French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet was also onboard. Nargeolet has reportedly been on over 35 dives to the Titanic wreck site, including the first voyage to the wreckage in 1987. Finally, Hamish Harding, chairman of Dubai-based Action Aviation, posted on social media expressing his excitement about joining the expedition. Harding has also reportedly traveled to space on a mission with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket company. The fifth person aboard the boat, its pilot, has not been identified.