A submarine on a tourist expedition to explore the wreckage of the Titanic disappeared off the southeast coast of Canada with five people on board, the private company that operates the vessel and the US Coast Guard said.
US and Canadian ships and planes are engaged in the search for the submarine, US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Malger said at a news conference Monday.
“It’s a remote area and it’s challenging to conduct a search in that remote area,” said the rear admiral. “We are deploying all available resources to ensure that we can locate the ship and rescue the people on board.”
The Coast Guard said there were a pilot and four passengers on board and the vessel had the ability to submerge for 96 hours, but it was not clear if it was still underwater or if it had surfaced and was unable to communicate.
The US-Canadian search and rescue operation includes air and surface searches, according to statements by the US Coast Guard and the Canadian Ministry of Defense.
Mauger said US and Canadian ships and planes are in the area about 900 miles (1,450 km) east of Cape Cod, and some have dropped sonar buoys that can monitor as deep as 13,000 feet (3,962 meters).
The Coast Guard reported that a surface vessel, the Polar Prince, lost contact with the submersible about an hour and 45 minutes after it began to plunge toward the wreckage site Sunday morning.
OceanGate Expeditions said Monday it was “mobilizing all options” to rescue the people aboard the submarine, which normally carries five people.
The company said they were “deeply grateful for the extensive assistance” received from various government agencies and companies.
British billionaire Hamish Harding is among the passengers, according to a social media post from a relative.
Harding’s stepson wrote on Facebook that Harding had “disappeared on the submarine” and asked for “thoughts and prayers.” The stepson later deleted the post, citing respect for the family’s privacy.
Harding had posted on Facebook a day earlier that he would be aboard the submarine. There have been no posts from him since then.
The expedition headed out to sea on Friday, with the first dive scheduled for Sunday morning, according to Harding’s post.
The expeditions, which cost $250,000 per person, begin in St. John’s, Newfoundland, before heading roughly 400 miles (640 km) out into the Atlantic to the wreckage site, according to the OceanGate website.
To visit the wreckage, passengers board the Titan, the five-person submarine, which takes two hours to descend approximately 12,500 feet (3,800 m) to the Titanic. The shipping company stated that the vessel has life support for its standard load of five people for 96 hours.
The famous British ocean liner sank in 1912 on its maiden voyage after colliding with an iceberg, killing more than 1,500 people. The story has been immortalized in nonfiction and fiction books, as well as in the 1997 hit movie “Titanic.”
[Con información de Reuters]
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