Reports quoting internal Department of Homeland Security National Operations Center email updates are offering the most significant hope yet that the men trapped and missing in a submersible at the Titanic wreck site are still alive.
The US Coast Guard this morning tweeted out that a Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater noises in the search area, and that ROV operations were being sent to the scene to explore the origin of the sounds.
Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater noises in the search area. As a result, ROV operations were relocated in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises. Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue. 1/2
— USCGNortheast (@USCGNortheast) June 21, 2023
Rolling Stone is reporting that internal US DHS email updates they’ve obtained indicate that the Canadian aircraft detected “banging” at 30-minute intervals coming from the area where the divers disappeared.
When sonar was deployed four hours later, the banging was still heard.
Press release for the establishment of the Unified Command for the 21-foot submersible, Titan, 900 miles east of Cape Cod click here: https://t.co/yvhGizVnw7#Titanic pic.twitter.com/fJPaYvovB5
— USCGNortheast (@USCGNortheast) June 21, 2023
The US Coast Guard, which is leading the massive search and rescue effort, has formed a Unified Command, comprised of US and Canadian Coast Guard and military resources.
Ships enroute to the scene include the Canadian Coast Guard ships the John Cabot, Ann Harvey, Terry Fox and Atlantic Merlin as well as a number of vessels including the Horizon Arctic, Skandi Vinland, the French research vessel L’Atalante, as well as numerous US and Canadian military aircraft.
St. John’s is now the official staging area for the deployment of resources to the search.
Three C-17 Globemaster aircraft’s departing YYT to continue the search for the missing submersible. @VOCMNEWS pic.twitter.com/WERJMigG81
— Sara Strickland (@_SaraStrickland) June 20, 2023
Meanwhile, US military aircraft started arriving at St. John’s International Airport yesterday to join in the search effort.
The Titan’s mother ship, the Polar Prince, lost contact with the submersible Sunday morning while it was descending to the site of the Titanic wreck. The submersible last pinged about two-thirds of the way down to the ocean floor.
The US Coast Guard was called about eight hours later when the submersible, which is designed to rise to the surface in a number of ways in case of emergency, was reported overdue. The Polar Prince conducted its own search but failed to turn up any sign of the Titan.
US Coast Guard spokesperson Captain James Frederick says a Unified Command, consisting of expertise from the US Coast Guard, the US Navy, the Canadian Armed Forces and Coast Guard, and OceanGate Expeditions has been formed and crews are working “around the clock” to locate the Titan and rescue the men on board.
The Canadian Coast Guard ship the John Cabot is joining the search, and TechNip FCM’s state-of-the-art pipelay vessel, the Deep Energy, equipped with an ROV, joined the Polar Prince at the search site yesterday and the ROV began diving in the area yesterday.
US Coast Guard spokesperson Captain James Frederick
Captain Frederick told reporters in Boston yesterday that a number of buoys with sonar have also been launched in the area, but he was unable to offer any assurance that with diminishing oxygen supply, there would be time to rescue the men on board even if the Titan is found.
He says every effort is being made to rescue the people involved, and says next steps will be determined by what, if anything, the ROV happens to find.
Efforts are underway to get deep ocean salvage equipment on site.
Captain Frederick says getting the US Navy’s specialized deep ocean salvage system to the site is a top priority.
He told reporters yesterday that the US Navy and Trans Con are working on getting the equipment to St. John’s and to the search site as quickly as possible.
The Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System is a portable lift system that can raise heavy objects from the ocean floor. The same equipment was used to recover a stealth fighter jet from the bottom of the South China Sea last year.
We confirm that sounds have been emitted in the search area where the #Titan submersible disappeared.
🚨 There's still 24 hours of oxygen left. #OceanGate #Ocean #Gate #Titanic #titanicsubmarine #titanicsubmersible #titanicwreck #Newfoundland #AtlanticOcean pic.twitter.com/utLhacIXBu
— OceanGate Expeditions (@OceanGateExpeds) June 21, 2023
