The United States Coast Guard mobilized more ships and other vessels this morning to locate the submersible that disappeared while carrying five people to the wreck of the Titanic.
A Canadian surveillance vessel has detected more underwater noise in the area where rescue teams are looking for the submersible, the authorities responsible for the operation announced Wednesday.
Although authorities are searching a more defined area, the exact location and source of the sounds has yet to be determined.
“This is a 100% search and rescue mission. We will continue to put all the available resources we have in an effort to find the Titan and the crew members,” said Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick, quoted by the Associated Press agency. (AP).
Federico stressed that the noises were heard this Wednesday, for the second day, although the authorities do not know what they are.
Retired Navy Capt. Carl Hartsfield, now director of the Woods Hole Ocean Systems Laboratory, told a news conference the sounds were described as “shocking noises” but warned those responsible had to “eliminate possible sources artificial beyond Titan”.
Even those who expressed some optimism warned that many obstacles remain: from identifying the location of the vessel, to reaching it with rescue teams, to getting it to the surface – assuming it is still intact – before the reserve of passenger oxygen.
The area of the North Atlantic where the submersible disappeared is prone to foggy and stormy conditions, making it an extremely challenging environment in which to conduct a search-and-rescue mission, said Donald Murphy, an oceanographer who served as chief scientist for the International Ice Patrol. of the Coast Guard.
After a Canadian military surveillance plane detected underwater noise in the search area, a robotic boat was sent to search the region, but so far “produced negative results,” the Coast Guard had explained on the social network Twitter.
Communication with the submersible was lost 45 minutes after the start of the dive, on Sunday night (local time), reported the company OceanGate Expeditions, owner of the vessel and organizer of trips to the Titanic wreck.
The remains of the Titanic – which sank after colliding with an iceberg in 1912 – lie at a depth of about 3,800 meters and at an approximate distance of 640 kilometers south of the Canadian island of Newfoundland.
Communication was lost when the vessel was some 700 kilometers south of São João da Terra Nova, according to Canada’s Joint Rescue Coordination Center.
The submersible had a 96-hour oxygen reserve when it put out to sea around 6 a.m. Sunday (local time), according to David Concannon, an adviser to OceanGate, making the operation a time trial.
Source: TSF
