Underwater Noises Heard During Search For Missing “Titan” Submersible
The Canadian P-3 Orion detected underwater noises in the search area and has deployed an underwater robot to scout for Titan.
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It’s estimated that the five passengers aboard the Titan submersible have as little as a day’s worth of oxygen left.
The Titan lost contact with its support ship an hour and 45 minutes into its dive on Sunday.
READ MORE: Tourist Submarine “Titan” Missing Since Sunday While Exploring Titanic Wreck
Reports indicate that the five passengers are:
- Pilot Stockton Rush, the CEO of the company leading the expedition
- Hamish Harding, British billionaire and explorer
- Shahzada Dawood, British-Pakistani businessman from a prominent Pakistani family
- Suleman Dawood, Shahzada’s 19-year-old son
- Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a Titanic expert and former French navy officer.
Fortunately, there seems to be a silver lining in the search and rescue operation. A Canadian military surveillance aircraft, P-3 Orion, detected underwater noises as a massive search continued in a remote part of the North Atlantic.
The rescue team deployed an underwater robot to search the area where the noises are coming from. So far, the submersible is still not found but the search continues.
The US Coast Guard did not elaborate on what rescuers believed the noises could be, but it offers a glimmer of hope for those lost aboard the Titan.
According to Rolling Stone, an internal US Department of Homeland Security’s email on the search said that rescue teams heard “banging sounds in the area every 30 minutes.”
When it comes to underwater disasters, a crew unable to communicate with the surface relied on banging on their submersible’s hull to be detected by sonar.
Chris Brown, an explorer and friend of Harding, said the reported banging sound is “just the sort of thing I would have expected Hamish to come up with.”
If you made a continuous noise, that’s not going to get picked up, but doing it every 30 minutes, that suggests humans. I’m sure they’re all conserving oxygen and energy, because it’s cold and dark down there.
Chris Brown, an explorer and friend of Hamish Harding
That said, no official has publicly suggested that’s the case and underwater noises can come from various sources.
For the search and rescue operation, the US military is using three C-17 transport planes to move commercial submersible and support equipment from Buffalo, New York, to St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Meanwhile, the Canadian military provided a patrol aircraft and two surface ships, including one that specializes in dive medicine. They also dropped sonar buoys to listen to any sounds from the Titan.
Rescuers are racing against the clock because the vessel could run out of oxygen by Thursday morning even under the best of circumstances.
An underwater robot had started searching in the vicinity of the Titanic and there was a push to get salvage equipment to the scene in case the submersible is found.
The safety features of the Titan are in question
Previously, there have been questions regarding the safety measures aboard the Titan due to the way the company tested the submersible and a lack of review by an expert third party.
The Titan has seven backup systems to return to the surface, including sandbags and lead pipes that drop off and an inflatable balloon.
CBS News journalist David Pogue, who travelled to the Titanic aboard the Titan last year, said one of the systems is designed to work even if everyone aboard is unconscious.
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