Titanic sub: US Coast Guard says about 40 hours of breathable air left on missing vessel – latest updates

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Promotional materials for the Titan submersible reveal the tight quarters the five passengers are currently in.

NBC News’ Ben Goggin has shared the diagram of the ship, which shows that only one of the passengers is able to fully extend their legs at one time.

Stockton Rush, the chief executive of OceanGate Expeditions, was warned by leaders in the submersible vehicle industry that the “company’s current ‘experimental’ approach” could result in problems “from minor to catastrophic”.

The warning came in a 2018 letter to Rush, obtained by the New York Times. A reporter from the Times visited OceanGate’s main office, based in Everett, Washington, where he said “the entrance door was locked, and nobody responded to knocking”.

It is too early to say what has happened but experts have offered several of the most likely scenarios, from becoming tangled in wreckage of the Titanic, to a power failure or an issue with the sub’s communications system.

The wreckage of the Titanic, which lies about 3,800 metres (12,500ft) down on the ocean floor is surrounded by debris from the disaster more than a century ago. “There are parts of it all over the place. It’s dangerous,” said Frank Owen OAM, a retired Royal Australian Navy official and submarine escape and rescue project director.

Contact was lost 1 hour 45 minutes into the Titan’s trip, suggesting the crew may have been close to, or at, the bottom, says Owen. The Titan has a maximum speed of three knots, but would be slower the deeper it goes.

In the case of becoming tangled, or a power or communications failure, the Titan would be equipped with drop weights, which can be released in an emergency, creating enough buoyancy to take it to the surface. The Titan has an array of signals, lighting, reflectors and other equipment it can use once on the surface to attract attention.

Another scenario is that there has been a leak in the pressure hull, in which case the prognosis is not good, said Alistair Greig, a professor of marine engineering at University College London.

“If it has gone down to the seabed and can’t get back up under its own power, options are very limited,” Greig said. “While the submersible might still be intact, if it is beyond the continental shelf, there are very few vessels that can get that deep, and certainly not divers.”

Chris Parry, a retired rear admiral with the British Royal Navy, told Sky News a seabed rescue was “a very difficult operation”.

“The actual nature of the seabed is very undulating. Titanic herself lies in a trench. There’s lots of debris around. So trying to differentiate with sonar in particular and trying to target the area you want to search in with another submersible is going to be very difficult indeed.”

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, ordered the dispatch of research ship Atalante to join the international search for the missing Titan sub, the French government has confirmed.

The vessel was sent “at the request of the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron and in response to a request from the American authorities”, a statement from France’s maritime ministry said.

France’s secretary of state in charge of Sea, Herv? Berville, told BFMTV that the ship is equipped with an underwater robot that can reach as deep as 4,000 metres and the robot’s operation team has departed from the French city of Toulon. He added:

The idea and our wish are for the ship to arrive as soon as possible, which should be Wednesday at 8pm local time.

Coast guard petty officer first class Robert Simpson told journalists at the Tuesday lunchtime briefing that weather conditions in the search area, about 370 miles from the coast of Newfoundland, were improving:

The weather on scene today was five to six feet seas, wave height. I believe it was 50 knot winds. Visibility was very foggy yesterday but increasing today, and they were expecting much better conditions from an aerial search perspective.

He wouldn’t be drawn on the Titan crew’s chances of survival, or likelihood of success of any rescue operation, should the submersible be located.

Earlier in the briefing, coast guard captain Jamie Frederick said the search operation had been ongoing since Sunday night, and had covered a huge area:

Since Sunday, the coast guard has coordinated search efforts with the US navy, coast guard, air national guard and the Polar Prince [OceanGate Expeditions’ support vessel], searching a combined 7,600 square miles, an area larger than the state of Connecticut.

He detailed resources coming from Canada, including a P3 aircraft currently searching the area, and Canadian and US coast guard vessels arriving this afternoon or this evening:

Additionally, numerous private vessels were en route to assist the search and recovery efforts, he said. He added:

I want to reiterate this is a very complex search and the unified team is working around the clock to bring all available assets and expertise to bear as quickly as possible in an effort to solve a very complex problem.

Stockton Rush, the chief executive of OceanGate Expeditions – the organisers of the Titan dive mission – is aboard the missing sub, the company has reportedly confirmed.

He is on board as a member of the crew, NBC News is reporting, citing the company.

Coast guard officials say the crew of the missing submersible Titan have about 40 hours of breathable air left, if they are still alive.

Captain Jamie Frederick was addressing reporters at a just-concluded lunchtime briefing in Boston on the third day of the search for the vessel and its five crew members that disappeared Sunday on a dive to the wreck of the Titanic, 12,500ft below the surface of the Atlantic.

We know from the data that we were using as a starting point, [their available air] was 96 hours. We know at this point, we’re approximately about 40, 41 hours,” he said.

He stressed that a “complex” search and rescue operation, so far covering 7,600 square miles, and involving coast guard and US navy aircraft and vessels, and resources from the Canadian military, was so far fruitless:

The search efforts have focused on both surface, with C-130 aircraft searching by sight, and with radar and subsurface with p3 aircraft were able to drop monitor sonar buoys today, those search efforts have not yielded any results.

A “unified command”, led by the coast guard, was set up Monday:

This is a complex search effort, which requires multiple agencies with subject matter expertise and specialized equipment.

While the US Coast Guard has assumed the role of search and rescue mission coordinator, we do not have all the necessary expertise and equipment required for a search of this nature. The unified command brings that expertise and additional capability together to maximize effort in solving this very complex problem.

Coast guard officials are giving a press conference now about the “complex” search and rescue operation under way in the Atlantic to locate the missing submersible Titan, but say “those search efforts have not yielded any results”.

“We offer our most heartfelt thoughts and prayers for the five crew members, their families and their loved ones,” coast guard captain Jamie Frederick told reporters.

Our crews are working around the clock to ensure that we are doing everything possible to locate the Titan and the five crew members.

I want to reiterate this is a very complex search and the unified team is working around the clock to bring all available assets and expertise to bear as quickly as possible in an effort to solve a very complex problem.

Frederick says there are about “40 hours of breathable air” remaining – IF the crew are still alive.

He began the press conference by announcing a “unified operations center” was set up on Monday, the coast guard leading the effort with help from the US navy, Canadian armed forces and Titan’s parent company, OceanGate Expeditions.

Capt Jamie Frederick is asked how many hours of oxygen is left on the Titan sub. He replies:

We know from the data that we were using as a starting point was 96 hours. We know at this point, we’re approximately about 40, 41 hours.

He reiterates that that estimate of 40 hours is based on the initial report of 96 hours.

Capt Jamie Frederick of the First Coast Guard District, starts by offering the US coast guard’s “heartfelt thoughts and prayers” for the five crew members on board the missing sub and their families.

Crews working on the search efforts are “working around the clock” to ensure that everything possible is done to locate the Titan and its crew members, he says.

The US Coast Guard is giving a news conference to discuss the search efforts to locate the missing submersible.

We’re expecting a press conference from the US Coast Guard at the top of the hour but, as often happens with these kind of events during developing news, it looks like it will be a few minutes behind schedule.

We have access to a video link to stream the presser live and we’ll bring it to you at the top of this blog, it will probably start in about 10 minutes.

So stick with us for all the unfolding developments, as they happen.