Contact with the Titan, which had departed at 6 am local time on Sunday, was lost an hour and 45 minutes into its dive into the Atlantic Ocean. The submersible normally takes 2.5 hours to reach the depth of almost 3,800 feet, where remains of the 1912 shipwreck lie. It’s still not known what happened to the submersible, why it lost contact, and how close to the Titanic it was when it went missing. Rescue operations to find the vessel began on Sunday.

The race against time

OceanGate Expeditions, which conducts the Titan's expeditions, said in a brief statement on Monday that it was "mobilizing all options" to rescue those on board the vessel. According to OceanGate’s website, the Titan has an emergency supply of oxygen that can last approximately 96 hours. Assuming that the submersible suffered a mishap at around 8 am on Sunday, oxygen supply can be expected to last the occupants up to Thursday morning.

Underwater noises detected by US Coast Guard

The US Coast Guard said that banging noises had been detected during the search operations, CNN reported on Wednesday quoting an internal government memo, giving hope of survival. However, the coast guard was not able to determine whether the noises had emanated from the Titan, or the location of the source. "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," the US Coast Guard wrote on Twitter.

British-Pakistani billionaire businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman were present on the submarine that disappeared, the BBC reported on Tuesday. Hamish Harding, a British businessman who collaborated with the Indian government to reintroduce eight wild cheetahs from Namibia to India, is also among those missing. The company’s chief executive, Stockton Rush, previously described the craft as “rock solid,” and French explorer and navy commander Paul-Henry Nargeolet are also believed to be in the submersible.

Some possible scenarios

Alistair Greig, a professor of marine engineering at University College London (UCL), said submersibles typically have a drop weight, which is “a mass they can release in the case of an emergency to bring them up to the surface using buoyancy.” “If there was a power failure and/or communication failure, this might have happened, and the submersible would then be bobbing about on the surface waiting to be found,” Greig told news agency AP. It is possible that Titan’s communication equipment, or the ballast system that controls its descent and ascent, may have malfunctioned, a New York Times article noted. The limited supply of air also poses a threat. In many submersibles, the air inside is recycled — carbon dioxide is removed and oxygen is added. However, on a long enough timeline, the vessel will lose the ability to scrub enough carbon dioxide, and will not be able to sustain life. If the Titan’s batteries run down and are no longer able to run heaters that keep the occupants warm in the cold depths of the ocean, those on board may succumb to hypothermia in the freezing conditions. Further, if the submersible is found, but is stuck at an extreme depth, limited means are available for its rescue.

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This is an archive article published on June 21, 2023

Titanic submarine missing for fourth day, noises detected from Atlantic Ocean: 5 points

The Titan submarine had gone missing on Sunday, during its voyage into the Atlantic Ocean to survey the wreckage of the Titanic.

An image of a Titan submersible released by OceanGate on its website. (Image credit: OceanGate)

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Search for the Titan submarine – which had gone missing on Sunday during its voyage into the Atlantic Ocean to survey the wreckage of the Titanic – continues for a fourth day. The US Coast Guard reported on Wednesday that noises had detected in the area being probed, fuelling hope that the occupants of the vessel may still be alive.

The Titan’s expedition, which costs $2,50,000 per person, had begun from St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. There were five people onboard the submersible when it went off the radar.

At least 10,000 square miles (25,900 square kilometers) have been searched to find the vessel, as per the US Coast Guard, but with no luck so far.

Here’s a lowdown on what we know so far.

01
What happened?
Contact with the Titan, which had departed at 6 am local time on Sunday, was lost an hour and 45 minutes into its dive into the Atlantic Ocean. The submersible normally takes 2.5 hours to reach the depth of almost 3,800 feet, where remains of the 1912 shipwreck lie.

It’s still not known what happened to the submersible, why it lost contact, and how close to the Titanic it was when it went missing. Rescue operations to find the vessel began on Sunday.
02
The race against time
OceanGate Expeditions, which conducts the Titan's expeditions, said in a brief statement on Monday that it was "mobilizing all options" to rescue those on board the vessel. According to OceanGate’s website, the Titan has an emergency supply of oxygen that can last approximately 96 hours.

Assuming that the submersible suffered a mishap at around 8 am on Sunday, oxygen supply can be expected to last the occupants up to Thursday morning.
03
Underwater noises detected by US Coast Guard
The US Coast Guard said that banging noises had been detected during the search operations, CNN reported on Wednesday quoting an internal government memo, giving hope of survival. However, the coast guard was not able to determine whether the noises had emanated from the Titan, or the location of the source.

"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," the US Coast Guard wrote on Twitter.
04
Who was on board?
British-Pakistani billionaire businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman were present on the submarine that disappeared, the BBC reported on Tuesday. Hamish Harding, a British businessman who collaborated with the Indian government to reintroduce eight wild cheetahs from Namibia to India, is also among those missing.

The company’s chief executive, Stockton Rush, previously described the craft as “rock solid,” and French explorer and navy commander Paul-Henry Nargeolet are also believed to be in the submersible.
05
Some possible scenarios
Alistair Greig, a professor of marine engineering at University College London (UCL), said submersibles typically have a drop weight, which is “a mass they can release in the case of an emergency to bring them up to the surface using buoyancy.” “If there was a power failure and/or communication failure, this might have happened, and the submersible would then be bobbing about on the surface waiting to be found,” Greig told news agency AP.

It is possible that Titan’s communication equipment, or the ballast system that controls its descent and ascent, may have malfunctioned, a New York Times article noted.

The limited supply of air also poses a threat. In many submersibles, the air inside is recycled — carbon dioxide is removed and oxygen is added. However, on a long enough timeline, the vessel will lose the ability to scrub enough carbon dioxide, and will not be able to sustain life.

If the Titan’s batteries run down and are no longer able to run heaters that keep the occupants warm in the cold depths of the ocean, those on board may succumb to hypothermia in the freezing conditions.

Further, if the submersible is found, but is stuck at an extreme depth, limited means are available for its rescue.