Rescue teams race to find missing sub, with 2 Pakistanis on board, near Titanic wreck
North Atlantic: The US Coast Guard said late on Monday that its search for a missing submersible vessel, with two Pakistanis on board, near the Titanic wreck had been completed for the day but that a national guard unit and the company operating the five-passenger underwater mission would continue scouring the surface overnight.
The 21-foot craft, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, began its descent on Sunday but lost contact with the surface less than two hours later, according to authorities.
The US Coast Guard said it had launched two planes to survey the remote area in the North Atlantic, while its Canadian counterparts had also sent a plane and a ship.
But with no reported sightings of the vessel or communication signals throughout the day, the US Coast Guard’s Boston-based unit said in a tweet around 9:00pm (0100 GMT on Tuesday) that its flights for the day “have been completed”.
“The Polar Prince and @Rescue106 will continue to do surface searches throughout the evening,” the tweet said, referring to the research ship that launched the submersible, and a US Air National Guard unit, respectively.
Searches by Canadian aircraft, which had been using buoys to scan underneath the surface, will continue Tuesday morning, it added.
Pakistani businessman, son on board
Businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, were also on board, their family said in a statement. The statement said the father and son had planned the journey to visit the remnants of the Titanic shipwreck.
Shahzada is the vice chairman of one of Pakistan’s largest conglomerates, Engro Corporation, which has investments in fertilisers, vehicle manufacturing, energy and digital technologies.
According to the website of SETI, the California-based research institute of which he is a trustee, he lives in Britain with his wife and two children.
In a statement, Engro corporation said that all it knew was that contact was lost with the submersible craft. “There is limited information available beyond this that we know, and we humbly request that speculation and theorisation is avoided,” the company said.
“We, at Engro, remain in prayer for their swift and safe return, and will share updates we may have as and when they come,” it added.
Another one of the passengers has been identified as British businessman Hamish Harding, whose aviation business had posted on social media about his expedition.
“It is a challenge to conduct a search in that remote area, but we are deploying all available assets to make sure that we can locate the craft and rescue the people on board,” US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger told reporters in Boston, where he was overseeing the operation.
Time is a critical factor. The vessel has a range of 96 hours for the crew of five, and Mauger said on Monday afternoon he believed it still had 70 or more hours of remaining oxygen.
OceanGate Expeditions’ spokesperson told AFP late on Monday that “for some time, we have been unable to establish communications with one of our submersible exploration vehicles which is currently visiting the wreck site of the Titanic”.
“Our entire focus is on the well-being of the crew and every step possible is being taken to bring the five crew members back safely,” the statement added.
The company uses a submersible named Titan for its dives to a maximum depth of 4,000 metres (13,100 feet).
‘Clock is ticking’
The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank in 1912 during its maiden voyage from England to New York with 2,224 passengers and crew on board. More than 1,500 people died in the tragedy.
The wreckage is in two main pieces 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, some 13,000 feet underwater. It was found in 1985 and remains a source of fascination and a lure for nautical experts and underwater tourists.
Without having studied the craft itself, Alistair Greig, professor of marine engineering at University College London, suggested two possible theories based on images of the vessel published by the press.
He said if it had an electrical or communications problem, it could have surfaced and remained floating, “waiting to be found”.
“Another scenario is the pressure hull was compromised — a leak,” he said in a statement. “Then the prognosis is not good”.
While the submersible may still be intact during its dive, there are very few vessels able to go to the depth to which the Titan might have traveled.
OceanGate said in its statement it was “deeply thankful 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 clock is ticking, and any submariner/submersible deep divers know how unforgiving the Abyssal domain is: going undersea is as, if not more, challenging than going into space from an engineering perspective,” said University of Adelaide associate professor Eric Fusil in a statement.