“40 hours of oxygen” remain for the missing submersible near the “Titanic”

The rescue teams multiplied their efforts on Tuesday to find a submersible with five people on board that disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean when he was going to explore the remains of the “titanic”, in a desperate search when the ship has “about 40 hours” of oxygen left.

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Communication with the submersibleTitan”, 6.5 meters long, was lost on Sunday, during its descent towards the remains of the mythical transatlanticwhich are found almost 4,000 meters deep in the middle of the North Atlantic.

Five people are traveling in the submersible, including the millionaire and British aviator Hamish HardingChairman of the private jet company Action Aviation, as well as the well-known Pakistani businessman shahzada dawoodvice president of the conglomerate engroand his son suleman.

The US and Canadian Coast Guards have deployed ships and aircraft in a intensive air and sea search of the boat, equipped with oxygen for 96 hours.

The captain of the service Coastguard US, Jamie Fredericksaid at a press conference that the tracking of some 13,000 km2 has not given “any result” until now.

The Titan submarine is capable of reaching the remains of the Titanic. (Ocean Gate).

“We know there are a few 40 hours of oxygen” in the submersible.

A Canadian P-3 aircraft launched sonar buoys in the area of ​​the wreckage of the “titanic” to try to detect any sounds coming from the small submersible.

The search, initially restricted to the ocean surface, is now it also takes place underwater.

The Institute Oceanographic French informed that it was going to send an underwater robot to help in the search work.

Among the passengers is also the French Paul-Henry Nargeoleta veteran diver and expert in the remains of the “titanic”.

Researcher Paul-Henri Nargeolet (left), businessman Shahzada Dawood (left-centre), British billionaire Hamish Harding (right-centre), and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush (right) are believed to be on board of a tourist submarine that disappeared while exploring the Titanic. (Photo: Oceangate)

According to unconfirmed reports, the fifth person on board is Stockton Rush, CEO of Ocean Gate Expeditions.

This company, which operates tourist dives, charges 250,000 dollarss for a seat in the “Titan”.

According to authorities, the submersible lost contact with the surface the two hours of its descent.

“We are exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew members back safely. All our attention is focused on the submersible crew and their families”declared Ocean Gate it’s a statement.

Mike ReissAmerican television writer who visited the vestiges of the “titanic” in the same submersible last year, told the BBC that the experience was disorienting. The pressure at that depth is 400 times greater than at the surface.

“The compass stopped working immediately and began to spin so we had to blindly circle the bottom of the ocean, knowing that the titanic I was somewhere.” Reiss said.

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“Legendary Explorers”

“But it’s so dark that biggest under the ocean it was only 500 meters away and we spent 90 minutes looking for it,” explained.

Everyone was aware of the danger of the expedition, he told the BBC. “You sign a document before uploading and on the first page death is mentioned three times”.

Harding58, aviator, space tourist and president of Action Aviationis no stranger to daredevil adventures and has three Guinness records to his name.

A year ago, he became a space tourist through the company blue origin of the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos.

On his Instagram account, Harding He said that he was proud to participate in this mission.

“Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland In 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned al ‘titanic‘ in 2023“, wrote.

“The submersible crew is made up of several legendary explorers, some of whom have made more than 30 dives in the rms titanic since the 1980s”Harding said Saturday when announcing his participation in the mission.

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race against time

He “titanic” sank on its maiden voyage between the English city of Southampton and NY in 1912 after colliding with an iceberg. Of the 2,224 people on board, some 1,500 died.

The remains of the ocean liner, split in two, were discovered in 1985 650 kilometers off the Canadian coast, at a depth of 4,000 meters in international waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Since then, treasure hunters and tourists have visited the area.

Alistair Greigprofessor of marine engineering at the University College Londonsuggested two possible hypotheses, based on images of the submarine published by the press.

Fears are growing for the five people on board, since the ship has oxygen autonomy for up to 96 hours.

If she had had an electrical or communications problem, she could have surfaced and remained afloat, “waiting to be found”.

“Another scenario is that the pressure helmet was damaged, a leak”, he said in a statement. “So the prognosis is not good.”

But “there are very few boats” capable of reaching the depth to which the “Titan”, he warned.

“The clock is tickingand any scuba diver or deep diver knows how unforgiving the deep-sea environment is: going under the sea is just as difficult or more difficult than going into space from an engineering point of view”declared the associate professor of the University of Adelaide Eric Rifle it’s a statement.

Source: Elcomercio