Search and rescue operations are underway in the North Atlantic Ocean on Monday looking for a missing tourist submersible that transports visitors to view the sunken wreckage of the Titanic.
Summary
Search and rescue operations are underway in the North Atlantic Ocean on Monday looking for a missing tourist submersible that transports visitors to view the sunken wreckage of the Titanic.
- The vessel was reported missing around 9:13pm on Sunday about 435 miles south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. The US Coast Guard, based in Boston, is leading the search assisted by a Canadian Coast Guard vessel and military aircraft.
- OceanGate Expeditions, the company that operates the submersible, said in a statement it was “mobilizing all options” to rescue the 5-seat watercraft after a companion surface boat, the Polar Prince, lost contact approximately 105 minutes after it began its voyage.
- Rear Adm. John Mauger of the US Coast Guard told the media the vessel carried five passengers – a pilot and four “mission operators” – and that the vessel has between 70 and 96 hours of emergency oxygen in reserve.
- The Titanic struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage and sank on April 14, 1912. More than 1,500 people died in the disaster out of the 2,200 passengers and crew aboard the doomed vessel.
- The wreckage was discovered in 1985 off the coast of Newfoundland, almost 12,000 feet beneath the waves.
- While the Titanic has laid beneath the waves for 111 years, opportunities to visit the sunken vessel may be running short. Recent expeditions have found the wreckage is “deteriorating rapidly” and pieces of the wreckage are beginning to collapse and disappear into eternity.
- CNN reported the Coast Guard is in the process of contacting the five families of those on board and refused to confirm the names of any passengers. The search is being conducted both on the surface with aircraft and sonar.
- NBC News explained the differences between OceanGate’s submersibles and typical submarines. OceanGate’s vessels “have shorter power cycles than submarines and are tied to a mother ship (the Polar Prince in this instance) when operating far from land. Submarines, by contrast, can typically travel long distances independently and use a port as a home base.”
- The New York Times reported four C130 aircraft – two American and one Canadian, plus an additional one on the way from the New York National Guard – are searching for the submersible in conjunction with a Canadian P8 submarine search vessel.
- Fox News reported British billionaire Hamish Harding is reportedly one of the missing passengers, according to a Facebook post from a family member and a Saturday post from Harding before departing on the voyage.
- The New York Post noted the missing expedition was the only voyage to the Titanic that OceanGate had scheduled for all of 2023. Tickets for the tour can cost as much as $250,000.
- Breitbart reported the vessel is the only 5-person vehicle that tours the Titanic and it operates using a computer touch screen that can be turned on with one switch while relying on Elon Musk’s Starlink system for communication.
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© Dominic Moore, 2023
