The US Coast Guard has confirmed rescue teams are still taking part in an 'active search and rescue' mission for the missing Titan submersible, despite it likely having run out of oxygen.
Rear Admiral John Mauger, of the US Coast Guard, shared the news on Thursday morning (22 June), four days after the vessel went missing on Sunday.
Titan, a vessel operated by the company OceanGate, is believed to have had 96 hours' worth of oxygen left on board when it went missing approximately one hour and 45 minutes into its dive to explore the wreck of the Titanic.
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A spokesperson for the US Coast Guard later told The Independent that authorities expected the vessel to run out of oxygen at 8am EST this morning.
“Based on the approximate 96 hours of oxygen supplies on the vessel at the time of deployment, any other estimates [than 1pm UK time on Thursday] would be too uncertain for us to confirm," they said.
In spite of this estimation, Mauger, who is running the search, insisted the operation is still active.
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When asked if he believes the oxygen on board will have run out by now, Mauger told Sky News: “We continue to keep the crew members and the families in our thoughts as we proceed with this search and rescue while we’re cognisant of the time and we’ve factored in a lot of data and information into the search.
“This is still an active search and rescue at this point and we’re using the equipment that we have on the bottom right now, the remote-operated vehicles to expand our search capability, and then also to provide rescue capability as well.”
The admiral went on to explain that teams are 'making the most' of good weather conditions to try and make progress with the search, explaining: “We have aircraft still flying overhead looking for any indications of the submersible on the surface.
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“But our focus right now is on the sub-sea search with the new capabilities that we have brought on line.
“We have remote operated vehicles that are working along the path line where the planned dive had taken place for the Titan submersible and we have the ability to both search and rescue.”
The search continues as Mauger also said that news of a 'banging' caught by sonar buoys involved in the search was likely caused by 'background ocean noise'.
“We’ve taken that information and shared it with top leading experts from the US Navy and the Canadian Navy, and they’re working on the analysis of that information, they’re continuing to work on the analysis of that information.
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“The initial reports is that there’s a lot of the sounds that were generated were from background ocean noise, but they continue to … look for all available information there," he said.
Emily Brown