Underwater Sounds Detected During Urgent Hunt for Missing Submersible Near Titanic Site with Five Onboard

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Early on Wednesday, a Canadian military surveillance aircraft picked up underwater sounds during an intensive search operation in a distant part of the North Atlantic. This effort was geared towards finding a submersible that disappeared with five people onboard while diving towards the Titanic wreck.

The U.S. Coast Guard, in their statement, refrained from providing details about the nature of the noises, or what rescuers presumed they might indicate. Nevertheless, it offered a faint ray of hope for those on board the missing Titan, given that the submersible might only have one day’s oxygen supply left, assuming it is still operational.

The major challenge remains how to reach the lost submersible, potentially as far down as 12,500 feet (3,800 meters) below the surface, near the sunken remains of the historic ship. New allegations also suggest that there were significant warnings concerning the vessel’s safety during its creation.

The missing Titan submersible carries a crew composed of its pilot Stockton Rush, who is also the CEO of the expedition’s leading company, alongside a British adventurer, a father-son duo from a Pakistani business family, and a Titanic expert.

The Coast Guard shared on Twitter that a Canadian P-3 Orion had “detected underwater noises in the search area,” prompting the deployment of an underwater robot to the location. However, these attempts have, so far, yielded no positive outcomes, but are ongoing.

The Coast Guard further disclosed that data from the P-3 aircraft has been forwarded to U.S. Navy experts for further examination and incorporation into future search strategies. According to an internal U.S. Department of Homeland Security email report mentioned by Rolling Stone, rescue teams detected “banging sounds in the area every 30 minutes.”

In underwater emergencies, stranded crew members, unable to establish contact with the surface, resort to banging on their submersible’s hull for detection by sonar. Nevertheless, there has been no official suggestion about this situation, and underwater noises can originate from various sources.

Despite the uncertainty, optimism is brewing among some, including Richard Garriott de Cayeux, president of The Explorers Club. He expressed “much greater confidence” in an open letter to his club’s adventurers, which includes the missing British man and the Titanic expert aboard the Titan.

In efforts to support the search operation, three C-17 transport planes from the U.S. military have been deployed to transport commercial submersible and support equipment from Buffalo, New York, to St. John’s, Newfoundland, as per a U.S. Air Mobility Command spokesperson.

The Canadian military has also provided a patrol aircraft, two surface ships (including one specializing in dive medicine), and dropped sonar buoys to listen for any sounds from the Titan. As the submersible’s oxygen supply may be depleted by Thursday morning, rescuers are racing against time to find it.

The submersible, constructed with carbon-fiber, was declared overdue Sunday night, prompting the initiation of the search in waters approximately 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s. The vessel had embarked at 6 a.m. Sunday, equipped with a four-day oxygen supply, as per David Concannon, an adviser to OceanGate Expeditions.

According to CBS News journalist David Pogue, who had been aboard the Titan, the vehicle employs two communication systems: text messages relayed to a surface ship, and safety pings emitted every 15 minutes to show that the sub is still operational. Both systems ceased functioning around an hour and 45 minutes after the Titan’s submersion.

The rescue effort for the lost vessel has garnered international attention. In Dubai, Crown Prince Hamadan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum prayed for the safety and hopeful return of British adventurer Hamish Harding, a resident of the city. Among the others onboard are Pakistani nationals Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, and French explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet.

Aaron Newman, a former Titan passenger, underscored the adventurous spirit of those onboard, stating, “These are people who lived on the edge and loved what they were doing. If anything’s going on, these are people that are calm and thinking this through and doing what they can to stay alive.”

This report was contributed to by Jon Gambrell from Big Big News, based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad.

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More about Missing Submersible

• OceanGate Expeditions
• The Explorers Club
• Canadian Armed Forces
• U.S. Coast Guard
• U.S. Air Mobility Command
• Titanic Wreck Site
• Rolling Stone Magazine
• U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• Marine Technology Society