Titanic sub: US Coast Guard says about 40 hours of breathable air left on missing vessel

Titan crew down to about ’40 hours of breathable air’

Richard Luscombe

Coast guard officials say the crew of the missing submersible Titan have about 40 hours of breathable air left, if they are still alive.

Captain Jamie Frederick was addressing reporters at a just-concluded lunchtime briefing in Boston on the third day of the search for the vessel and its five crew members that disappeared Sunday on a dive to the wreck of the Titanic, 12,500ft below the surface of the Atlantic.

We know from the data that we were using as a starting point, [their available air] was 96 hours. We know at this point, we’re approximately about 40, 41 hours [in],” he said.

He stressed that a “complex” search and rescue operation, so far covering 7,600 square miles, and involving coast guard and US navy aircraft and vessels, and resources from the Canadian military, was so far fruitless:

The search efforts have focused on both surface, with C-130 aircraft searching by sight, and with radar and subsurface with p3 aircraft were able to drop monitor sonar buoys today, those search efforts have not yielded any results.

A “unified command”, led by the coast guard, was set up Monday:

This is a complex search effort, which requires multiple agencies with subject matter expertise and specialized equipment.

While the US Coast Guard has assumed the role of search and rescue mission coordinator, we do not have all the necessary expertise and equipment required for a search of this nature. The unified command brings that expertise and additional capability together to maximize effort in solving this very complex problem.

Coast guard officials say the crew of the missing submersible Titan have about 40 hours of breathable air left, if they are still alive.

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We know from the data that we were using as a starting point, [their available air] was 96 hours. We know at this point, we’re approximately about 40, 41 hours [in],” he said.

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n

The search efforts have focused on both surface, with C-130 aircraft searching by sight, and with radar and subsurface with p3 aircraft were able to drop monitor sonar buoys today, those search efforts have not yielded any results.

n

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A “unified command”, led by the coast guard, was set up Monday:

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n

This is a complex search effort, which requires multiple agencies with subject matter expertise and specialized equipment.

n

While the US Coast Guard has assumed the role of search and rescue mission coordinator, we do not have all the necessary expertise and equipment required for a search of this nature. The unified command brings that expertise and additional capability together to maximize effort in solving this very complex problem.

n

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Capt Jamie Frederick is asked how many hours of oxygen is left on the Titan sub. He replies:

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We know from the data that we were using as a starting point was 96 hours. We know at this point, we’re approximately about 40, 41 hours.

n

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He reiterates that that estimate of 40 hours is based on the initial report of 96 hours.

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The US Coast Guard is giving a news conference to discuss the search efforts to locate the missing submersible.

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It’s shortly after midday on the east coast of the US and Canada as the frantic search continues by sea and air for the submersible that has been missing since it dived on Sunday towards the wreck of the Titanic, off Newfoundland. We’ll continue to bring you coverage as it happens.

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Here’s where things stand:

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Last known pictures of the sub, Titan, have been released, taken on Sunday just before it dived into the North Atlantic, and released by Action Aviation, the company run by passenger Hamish Harding.

Titan, the tourist submersible missing with five people aboard, is designed to be piloted with a video-game controller and fitted with “off-the-shelf” components, CBS previously reported.

France will send a ship equipped with a deep-sea diving vessel to assist in the search for the Titan, the French education ministry has said.

The British Foreign Office has confirmed it is in contact with the families of three British nationals on the sub, Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman Dawood, the BBC reports.

Authorities are expanding the search into deeper waters for the submersible, Rear Adm John Mauger, commander of the First Coast Guard District. They’ve been searching through the night.

UK prime minister Rishi Sunak’s thoughts are said to be with the families of those involved in the missing Titan submersible. The prime minister’s official spokesman also said that Sunak “clearly wants to pass on his thanks to those that are responding” to the situation.

Rescue teams are continuing the search for the Titan submersible that was reported missing on Sunday after diving towards the wreck of the passenger liner Titanic in the North Atlantic. Titan has five people aboard. The Titanic sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg en route from England to the US, with more than 1,500 souls lost. The wreck was not found until the mid-1980s, almost 4,000m (13,000 ft) down in a deep part of the ocean.

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These pictures, taken on Sunday and released by Action Aviation, show the submersible Titan prepared for the dive into a remote area of the Atlantic Ocean.

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The US coast guard will hold a news conference at 1pm EST (1700 GMT) to discuss the search efforts to locate the missing submersible.

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The @uscg will be holding a press briefing for the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince missing submersible at 1pm EST.

View the press briefing below: https://t.co/Z4Ar73rxZY

The full press briefing will be posted to https://t.co/aZWnN3U74D once it concludes.

— USCGNortheast (@USCGNortheast) June 20, 2023

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The Titan is a research and survey submersible that can carry five people, usually a pilot and four “mission specialists” who can include archaeologists, marine biologists or anyone who can afford the experience as a tourist.

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Made of “titanium and filament wound carbon fibre”, the 6.7-metre (22ft) craft weighs 10,432kg (23,000lbs), equivalent to about six average-size cars, and is capable of diving to depths of 4,000 metres (13,120ft) “with a comfortable safety margin”, according to operator OceanGate. It uses four electric thrusters to move around, and has a battery of cameras, lights and scanners to explore its environment. OceanGate says Titan’s viewport is “the largest of any deep diving submersible” and that its technology provides an “unrivalled view” of the deep ocean.

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It uses Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite technology to communicate, though it is unclear if it was the cause of the loss of contact. OceanGate tweeted last week:

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n

Without any cell towers in the middle of the ocean, we are relying on @Starlink to provide the communications we require throughout this year’s 2023 Titanic expedition.

n

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It has a 96-hour bottled oxygen supply, as of roughly 6am Sunday local time, according to David Concannon, an adviser to trip operator OceanGate, which would in theory last until Thursday morning . However, that limit would be affected by the breathing rate of those inside the craft, especially if there are tourists onboard with limited diving experience.

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Titan, the tourist submersible that went missing while carrying five people to the Titanic wreck, was designed to be piloted with a video-game controller and fitted with “off-the-shelf” components.

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In a CBS News segment aired in November, OceanGate Expeditions took CBS correspondent David Pogue aboard the Titan. The trip had several starts and stops, attributed to bad weather and issues with communication, and the submersible even got lost for a few hours.

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Pogue said he “couldn’t help noticing how many pieces of this sub seemed improvised, with off-the-shelf components”. OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush said the sub featured a light fixture from CamperWorld and a makeshift toilet with a plastic bottle. He said:

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n

We only have one button, that’s it. It should be like an elevator, it shouldn’t take a lot of skill.

n

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Rush brought out a Logitech game controller, saying that “we run the whole thing with this”. He reassured Pogue that it was safe, adding that his team had worked with Boeing, Nasa, and the University of Washington to create a vessel capable of withstanding deep-sea pressure. He said:

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n

Everything else can fail. Your thrusters can go, your lights can go. You’re still going to be safe.

n

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France will send a ship equipped with a deep-sea diving vessel to assist in the search for the tourist submersible that went missing while attempting to reach the wreck of the Titanic, the French education ministry has said.

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The ship, called the Atalante, is managed by the Ifremer research institute which acts under the ministry’s authority, Reuters reports.

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A statement by Ifremer said the ship was expected to arrive on site by Wednesday evening local time. It added:

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n

It carries the Victor 6000 autonomous robot, capable of descending to a depth of 6,000 metres, beyond the 3,800 metres of the wreck’s position.

n

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A French government source added that a French national was among those on board the vessel. The family of Paul-Henri Nargeolet have reportedly confirmed that he was aboard the vessel.

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The UK’s Foreign Office has confirmed it is in contact with the families of three British nationals on the submersible that went missing during a voyage to the Titanic shipwreck.

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Among those on board the submersible is the British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, the chair of the private plane firm Action Aviation, which said he was one of the mission specialists on the OceanGate Expeditions vessel.

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The Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman Dawood, who are also on board the sub, are British citizens, the BBC has reported, citing a spokesperson for the Dawood family.

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In a statement, the Foreign Office said:

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n

We are in contact with the families of three British nationals following a submersible going missing off the coast of North America and are in touch with the local authorities.

n

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The UK’s foreign secretary, James Cleverly, at a joint press conference with his US counterpart, Antony Blinken, said the thoughts of the British government were with “those individuals who are currently in the submersible in the North Atlantic”.

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Cleverly said:

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n

We wish them all the luck, and of course we hope that they will be swiftly found and returned to their loved ones.

n

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Authorities are expanding the search into deeper waters for the submersible, Rear Adm John Mauger, commander of the First Coast Guard District.

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Speaking to CNN, Mauger said:

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n

As we continue on with this search… we’ve been working through the night with a broad group of partners to bring all capabilities to bear looking on both the surface and now expanding to a subsurface in the area.

n

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The UK prime minister Rishi Sunak’s thoughts are said to be with the families of those involved in the missing Titan submersible.

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The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “The families involved will be deeply concerned and his thoughts are with them and the Foreign Office is providing support.”

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He said that the prime minister “clearly wants to pass on his thanks to those that are responding” to the situation.

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Hamish Harding, 58, is one of the five missing with the OceanGate Expeditions vessel, which was reported overdue on Sunday evening about 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland.

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Harding is the chair of the private plane firm Action Aviation. His wife is called Linda, and he has two sons named Rory and Giles, as well as a stepdaughter named Lauren and a stepson, Brian Szasz.

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As a student, he left Cambridge with a degree in natural sciences and chemical engineering.

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Harding is an aviator, holding an airline transport pilot’s licence and business jet type ratings, including the Gulfstream G650. He is also a skydiver, was inducted into the Living Legends of Aviation in 2022, and is a trustee of the Explorers Club.

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He also previously worked with the Antarctic VIP tourism company White Desert to introduce the first regular business jet service to Antarctica.

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Harding has made many trips to the south pole and, in 2016, accompanied Buzz Aldrin, who became the oldest person to reach the south pole at 86. He also went into space last year with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin company.

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Harding is the current holder of three Guinness world records, relating to his work as an adventurer. In 2019, he was commended for the fastest circumnavigation of the Earth via both poles.

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As part of a crew of eight astronauts and aviators in a Qatar executive Gulfstream G650ER ultra-long-range business jet, Harding led the mission to mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. He achieved the feat in 46 hours, 40 minutes and 22 seconds.

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In 2021, he achieved the greatest distance covered at full ocean depth and the greatest duration spent at full ocean depth.

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Alongside Victor Vescovo, Harding dove in a two-man submarine to the lowest point in the world’s oceans, the deepest point of the Mariana Trench, the Challenger Deep – a depth of about 36,000ft.

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It is too early to say what has happened but experts have offered several of the most likely scenarios, from becoming tangled in wreckage of the Titanic, to a power failure or an issue with the sub’s communications system.

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The wreckage of the Titanic, which lies about 3,800 metres (12,500ft) down on the ocean floor is surrounded by debris from the disaster more than a century ago.

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“There are parts of it all over the place. It’s dangerous,” said Frank Owen OAM, a retired Royal Australian Navy official and submarine escape and rescue project director.

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Contact was lost one hour 45 minutes into the Titan’s trip, suggesting the crew may have been close to, or at, the bottom, says Owen. The Titan has a maximum speed of three knots, but would be slower the deeper it goes.

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In the case of becoming tangled, or a power or communications failure, the Titan would be equipped with drop weights, which can be released in an emergency, creating enough buoyancy to take it to the surface. The Titan has an array of signals, lighting, reflectors and other equipment it can use once on the surface to attract attention.

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Another scenario is that there has been a leak in the pressure hull, in which case the prognosis is not good, said Alistair Greig, a professor of marine engineering at University College London.

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“If it has gone down to the seabed and can’t get back up under its own power, options are very limited,” Greig said. “While the submersible might still be intact, if it is beyond the continental shelf, there are very few vessels that can get that deep, and certainly not divers.”

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Chris Parry, a retired rear admiral with the British Royal Navy, told Sky News a seabed rescue was “a very difficult operation”.

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“The actual nature of the seabed is very undulating. Titanic herself lies in a trench. There’s lots of debris around. So trying to differentiate with sonar in particular and trying to target the area you want to search in with another submersible is going to be very difficult indeed.”

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Welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the search for the submersible vessel Titan that went missing during a voyage to the Titanic shipwreck.

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Rescue teams are continuing the search for Titan which went missing with British billionaire Hamish Harding among the five people aboard.

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Harding, is the chair of private plane firm Action Aviation, which said he is one of the mission specialists on the five-person OceanGate Expeditions vessel reported overdue on Sunday evening about 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland.

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Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman Dawood have been named as two of the other people on the submersible in a family statement.

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The other two passengers have been widely reported as being French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet and OceanGate chief executive and founder Stockton Rush.

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It is understood there were 96 hours – four days – worth of oxygen supply on board which would have started on Sunday morning.

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We’ll provide updates on the search when they are available.

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Stockton Rush, the chief executive of OceanGate Expeditions – the organisers of the Titan dive mission – is aboard the missing sub, the company has reportedly confirmed.

He is on board as a member of the crew, NBC News is reporting, citing the company.

Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate Expeditions Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Titan crew down to about ’40 hours of breathable air’

Richard Luscombe

Coast guard officials say the crew of the missing submersible Titan have about 40 hours of breathable air left, if they are still alive.

We know from the data that we were using as a starting point, [their available air] was 96 hours. We know at this point, we’re approximately about 40, 41 hours [in],” he said.

The search efforts have focused on both surface, with C-130 aircraft searching by sight, and with radar and subsurface with p3 aircraft were able to drop monitor sonar buoys today, those search efforts have not yielded any results.

A “unified command”, led by the coast guard, was set up Monday:

This is a complex search effort, which requires multiple agencies with subject matter expertise and specialized equipment.

While the US Coast Guard has assumed the role of search and rescue mission coordinator, we do not have all the necessary expertise and equipment required for a search of this nature. The unified command brings that expertise and additional capability together to maximize effort in solving this very complex problem.

Richard Luscombe

Coast guard officials are giving a press conference now about the “complex” search and rescue operation under way in the Atlantic to locate the missing submersible Titan, but say “those search efforts have not yielded any results”.

“We offer our most heartfelt thoughts and prayers for the five crew members, their families and their loved ones,” coast guard captain Jamie Frederick told reporters.

Our crews are working around the clock to ensure that we are doing everything possible to locate the Titan and the five crew members.

I want to reiterate this is a very complex search and the unified team is working around the clock to bring all available assets and expertise to bear as quickly as possible in an effort to solve a very complex problem.

Frederick says there are about “40 hours of breathable air” remaining – IF the crew are still alive.

He began the press conference by announcing a “unified operations center” was set up on Monday, the coast guard leading the effort with help from the US navy, Canadian armed forces and Titan’s parent company, OceanGate Expeditions.

About 40 hours of breathable air left on the sub, says US Coast Guard

Capt Jamie Frederick is asked how many hours of oxygen is left on the Titan sub. He replies:

We know from the data that we were using as a starting point was 96 hours. We know at this point, we’re approximately about 40, 41 hours.

He reiterates that that estimate of 40 hours is based on the initial report of 96 hours.

Capt Jamie Frederick of the First Coast Guard District, starts by offering the US coast guard’s “heartfelt thoughts and prayers” for the five crew members on board the missing sub and their families.

Crews working on the search efforts are “working around the clock” to ensure that everything possible is done to locate the Titan and its crew members, he says.

US coast guard press conference begins

The US Coast Guard is giving a news conference to discuss the search efforts to locate the missing submersible.

We’re expecting a press conference from the US Coast Guard at the top of the hour but, as often happens with these kind of events during developing news, it looks like it will be a few minutes behind schedule.

We have access to a video link to stream the presser live and we’ll bring it to you at the top of this blog, it will probably start in about 10 minutes.

So stick with us for all the unfolding developments, as they happen.

The @uscg will be holding a press briefing for the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince missing submersible at 1pm EST.

View the press briefing below: https://t.co/Z4Ar73rxZY

The full press briefing will be posted to https://t.co/aZWnN3U74D once it concludes.

— USCGNortheast (@USCGNortheast) June 20, 2023n”,”url”:”https://twitter.com/USCGNortheast/status/1671160230980489219?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1671160230980489219%7Ctwgr%5E9c05ef7c11c94d0f460cb5130fd590d711f84270%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2Flive%2F2023%2Fjun%2F20%2Ftitanic-submarine-rescuers-missing-titan-submersible-search-latest-news%3Fpage%3Dwith3Ablock-6491ca958f0890e11a2be421″,”id”:”1671160230980489219″,”hasMedia”:false,”role”:”inline”,”isThirdPartyTracking”:false,”source”:”Twitter”,”elementId”:”4458f5f3-7750-4d99-957b-aa0de989004c”}}”>

Leyland Cecco

The disappearance of Titan has left the deep sea exploration community “shattered”, a famed Canadian scientist and veteran explorer has said.

“This is the day that we have been fearing for a long, long time – when you lose a sub in really deep water,” Joe MacInnis, a member of the first expedition to locate the wreck of the Titanic in 1985, told the Guardian on Monday night. “It doesn’t look good.”

MacInnis is a veteran deep sea explorer who has completed 17 trips to the famed wreck with a Russian crew, as part of making the 1992 Imax documentary Titanica.

He is also a close friend of filmmaker James Cameron who he introduced to the Russian submersible pilots involved. “The next thing you know Jim hires them and makes all his dives to the Titanic before he makes his big film,” he said, referring to the 1997 mega-blockbuster feature, Titanic, that Cameron directed.

Titan had been out of contact for more than 30 hours by Monday night. “That’s a big concern, especially as time ticks on,” he said.

MacInnis added: “We’ve feared this for a long time,” noting that the news has rocked a tight-knit community of scientists and explorers who have spent much of their lives pushing further into the darkness of the deep sea.

“But this is the reality of the ocean, especially in its deeper waters. It really is a place of scorching fear. And it is a place of fugitive beauty,” he said.

Read the full, exclusive interview here.

TITANIC 1997 Twentieth Century Fox film with Kate Winslet and Leonardo Di Caprio. Photograph: Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy

Interim summary

Here’s where things stand:

Last known pictures of the sub, Titan, have been released, taken on Sunday just before it dived into the North Atlantic, and released by Action Aviation, the company run by passenger Hamish Harding.
Titan, the tourist submersible missing with five people aboard, is designed to be piloted with a video-game controller and fitted with “off-the-shelf” components, CBS previously reported.
France will send a ship equipped with a deep-sea diving vessel to assist in the search for the Titan, the French education ministry has said.
The British Foreign Office has confirmed it is in contact with the families of three British nationals on the sub, Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman Dawood, the BBC reports.
Authorities are expanding the search into deeper waters for the submersible, Rear Adm John Mauger, commander of the First Coast Guard District. They’ve been searching through the night.
UK prime minister Rishi Sunak’s thoughts are said to be with the families of those involved in the missing Titan submersible. The prime minister’s official spokesman also said that Sunak “clearly wants to pass on his thanks to those that are responding” to the situation.
Rescue teams are continuing the search for the Titan submersible that was reported missing on Sunday after diving towards the wreck of the passenger liner Titanic in the North Atlantic. Titan has five people aboard. The Titanic sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg en route from England to the US, with more than 1,500 souls lost. The wreck was not found until the mid-1980s, almost 4,000m (13,000 ft) down in a deep part of the ocean.

Last known pictures of the missing sub

These pictures, taken on Sunday and released by Action Aviation, show the submersible Titan prepared for the dive into a remote area of the Atlantic Ocean.

In this photo released by Action Aviation, the submersible Titan is prepared for the dive into a remote area of the Atlantic Ocean on an expedition to the Titanic on Sunday. — The Titan sub is prepared for the dive into a remote area of the Atlantic Ocean on an expedition to the Titanic on Sunday. Photograph: AP

Contact between the sub and its mothership, Polar Prince, was lost an hour and 45 minutes into its dive. Photograph: AP

A friend of the British billionaire Hamish Harding has said she is “terrified” over the possibility that the Titan crew are at the bottom of the ocean running out of air.

Speaking to Sky News, explorer Jannicke Mikkelsen said Harding was no stranger to “elaborate expeditions” and that his “calm and collected” nature meant he would be an “important asset to the team” on board.

“I am terrified if they are stuck at the bottom of the ocean with 96 hours of air and not able to get back to the surface”

Jannicke Mikkelsen tells @skysarahjane that Hamish Harding will be a “valuable crew member” onboard the missing sub

Latest: https://t.co/50VcBmH2Ua pic.twitter.com/5gh1Jiigvi

— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 20, 2023n”,”url”:”https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1671160863838081025″,”id”:”1671160863838081025″,”hasMedia”:false,”role”:”inline”,”isThirdPartyTracking”:false,”source”:”Twitter”,”elementId”:”0cb76666-985c-4e61-87ae-b3b47f56afca”}}”>

US coast guard to hold news conference at 1pm ET

The US coast guard will hold a news conference at 1pm EST (1700 GMT) to discuss the search efforts to locate the missing submersible.

The @uscg will be holding a press briefing for the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince missing submersible at 1pm EST.

View the press briefing below: https://t.co/Z4Ar73rxZY

The full press briefing will be posted to https://t.co/aZWnN3U74D once it concludes.

— USCGNortheast (@USCGNortheast) June 20, 2023″,”url”:”https://twitter.com/USCGNortheast/status/1671160230980489219″,”id”:”1671160230980489219″,”hasMedia”:false,”role”:”inline”,”isThirdPartyTracking”:false,”source”:”Twitter”,”elementId”:”784f6877-e829-4f53-bd0a-e2a6e2972109″}}”>

What is the Titan sub and what can it do?

Graham Russell

Sub

It uses Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite technology to communicate, though it is unclear if it was the cause of the loss of contact. OceanGate tweeted last week:

Without any cell towers in the middle of the ocean, we are relying on @Starlink to provide the communications we require throughout this year’s 2023 Titanic expedition.

The tour firm responsible for the missing Titan submersible with five people on board took eight hours to report it to the US coastguard, according to a report.

Contact between the sub and its mothership, Polar Prince, was lost at 9.45am, an hour and 45 minutes into its dive to the wreck of the Titanic on Sunday afternoon.

But the sub was not reported as missing to the US coast guard until 5.40pm, and not to Canada’s coastguard until 9.13pm on Sunday night, the Daily Mail has reported.

OceanGate Expeditions charges guests $250,000 (£195,270) for a place on its eight-day expedition to see the famous wreck, which lies on the ocean floor at a depth of almost 4,000m and about 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.

Missing sub was operated with a video game controller

We only have one button, that’s it. It should be like an elevator, it shouldn’t take a lot of skill.

Everything else can fail. Your thrusters can go, your lights can go. You’re still going to be safe.

France will send ship equipped with deep-sea diving vessel to aid search

The ship, called the Atalante, is managed by the Ifremer research institute which acts under the ministry’s authority, Reuters reports.

A statement by Ifremer said the ship was expected to arrive on site by Wednesday evening local time. It added:

It carries the Victor 6000 autonomous robot, capable of descending to a depth of 6,000 metres, beyond the 3,800 metres of the wreck’s position.

A French government source added that a French national was among those on board the vessel. The family of Paul-Henri Nargeolet have reportedly confirmed that he was aboard the vessel.

A deep water search-and-recovery expert has said a commercial pipe-laying ship has arrived in the area where the missing submersible was last reported.

David Mearns, a marine scientist who knows two of the passengers on board the sub, told the BBC earlier today:

Just in the last hour or so … another commercial vessel, a very capable pipe laying vessel, modern ship, with ROV (remotely operated underwater vehicle) capabilities, is actually over the site now and we’re just hoping that it has the capabilities to reach those kind of depths – 3,800 metres – to search for the submersible and have the ability to recover it.

There is some hope that that could happen.