The US coast guard has announced that the hunt for a missing submersible near the Titanic wreck is still a rescue mission, despite being almost four days since the vessel lost communication with the mother ship and fears that their oxygen supply may have run out. The multinational mission to find the vessel, which had five passengers on board, including British billionaire Hamish Harding and Pakistani tycoon Shahzada Dawood, as well as OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush and Mr Titanic Paul-Henri Nargeolet, has brought in a surge of assets and experts to help with the search. Thursday saw the deployment of two more unmanned subs, and one of the vessels carrying medical staff and a decompression chamber heading towards the area.
Based on the sub’s capacity to hold up to 96 hours of emergency air, rescuers estimated that the passengers could run out of oxygen by Thursday afternoon. Nonetheless, the Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger stated that rescuers were fully committed to the search operation as there was still a chance the passengers were alive. Although experts have picked up unidentified underwater noises, they have not yet been able to confirm their source, despite the hope they raise.
