Searches to find the missing submarine by exploring the wreckage “have yielded no results” so far

On Tuesday, June 20, the US and Canadian Coast Guards continued their search for the ship TitanAnd A small tourist submarine goes missing in the Atlantic Ocean, off North America, while taking part in an expedition to the area where it sank in Titanic On board were five people: an American, a British, two Pakistanis and a French Aquanaut Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a shipwreck specialist.

At the moment, no search has been made to find it “No results”The US Coast Guard announced earlier in the evening, adding that it was still there “about 40 hours” of oxygen in the missing submarine.

The French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer) diverted its ship AtlantaThe Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge of the sea announced, on Tuesday, that the submarine is equipped with an underwater robot to great depths, towards the North Atlantic site where the submarine disappeared.Atlanta, on a mission, should arrive in the area on Wednesday around 8pm (Newfoundland time), before operators being dispatched from Toulon can have the robot dive toward the wreck, which is about four thousand meters deep. The lost submarine titan, She began her dive on Sunday with a crew of five and an autonomy of ninety-six hours.

The search and rescue mission has begun

Authorities were warned Sunday by the ship’s operator, OceanGate Expeditions, the private company that operates the submarine, that it had disappeared off the coast of Canada during an organized trip to approach the wreck. Titanic. “crew Polar Prince [un bateau de l’entreprise] Contact with them was lost for an hour and forty-five minutes after the dive., in detail, Monday evening, a US Coast Guard spokesperson. OceanGate Expeditions made the announcement Monday, in a statement “Explore and mobilize all options” to bring the crew back safely.

Admiral John Mauger, chief of the US Coast Guard, made it clear Monday during a news conference that three US and two Canadian planes have been mobilized to find the submarine. It was announced Tuesday on ABC News’ “Good Morning America” ​​that the search for the submarine, which until now has focused on the surface of the ocean, is now underway underwater.

A Canadian P-3 also dropped buoys in the area where he was located Titanic corrupted in an attempt to record any sounds it produced TitanIt is about 6.50 meters long. Admiral Mauger added that boats and aircraft searching for the submarine have now surveyed 13,000 square kilometres. The search area is more than 1,450 kilometers off the coast of Massachusetts – and at a depth of nearly four kilometers.

Time is now crucial to finding the submarine’s occupants. ” It’s a remote area, and it’s hard to do research in such an area.”John Mauger added. Frank Owen, a former submarine officer, explained BBC The challenge for passengers on board is to keep calm and not consume too much oxygen.

A spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House, John Kirby, confirmed that US President Joe Biden wants the Coast Guard, a body of the armed forces, to continue searching and the Navy can be mobilized if necessary.

Explore at $250,000 instead

The wreck of the Titanic, which perished 1,500 of the 2,200 passengers in 1912 after colliding with an iceberg, lies 3,810 meters (12,500 feet) at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 600 kilometers off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. OceanGate Expeditions charges clients $250,000 (€230,000) for a place on its submarine and eight days to view the famous wreck.

This OceanGate excursion was the third organized to the site of the sunken ship across the Atlantic Ocean to document its deterioration and underwater life. The flight was scheduled to depart in early May from Saint John, Newfoundland and Labrador, and end in late June, according to a court document the company filed in April with the US District Court in Virginia presiding over the business. Titanic.

The company uses a Polar PrinceAn icebreaker formerly operated by the Canadian Coast Guard, to ferry dozens of people and the submarine to the wreck site. The submarine seats five people, according to the company, including a pilot and three fare passengers ” expert “.

Who’s on board?

Among the passengers is wealthy British businessman, pilot and space tourist Hamish Harding, 58, CEO of Action Aviation, who confirmed on Tuesday. communicationDubai-based private jet sales company. The submarine crew consists of some legendary explorers, some of whom have completed more than thirty dives aboard the submarine. Titanic Since the eightiesbooks Mr. Hamish on his Instagram account Saturday announcing his participation in the trip.

He added that the French specialist in TitanicHis father, Aquanaut Paul-Henri Nargeolet, was also part of the expedition, which was confirmed by his family on BFM-TV. Originally from Haute-Savoie and now 77 years old, the seabed explorer spent the early part of his career as a naval officer. Commander of a divers mopping group in Cherbourg (Manche, northwest France), then became a submarine pilot in the Undersea Intervention Group, part of the French Navy. From there he moved into marine archaeology, with the excavation of numerous shipwrecks, within the Association of the Maritime Archeology Research Group. In 1986, he was put in charge of deep intervention submarines at Ifremer. Since 2007, he has been director of the research program for the RMS Titanic/Phoenix International company that owns the wreck. The former clearance diver has worked on dozens of wreckage recovery operations, including those of AF447, the downed Rio-Paris Air France flight from Brazil in 2009.

According to the BBCQuoting a statement from his family, the Pakistani businessman Shahzada DaoudThe 48-year-old is vice president of the Engro conglomerate and director of the SETI Institute, and his son Solomon, 19, is also on board.

Finally, OceanGate Expeditions, the organizer of the trip and its US president, Stockton Rush, confirmed that they are also on board. “Explore and marshal all options to bring the crew back safely”.

Electrical, communication or structure problem

Without studying the craft itself, Alistair Gregg, professor of marine engineering at University College London, has raised two possible theories based on images of the device released by the press. He believes that if he had an electrical or communications problem, he might have been brought to the surface floating “Waiting to be found”. Another scenario is that the structure is compromised.and there was a leak. So the prognosis is not good., he added. And “Very few ships can go.” To the depth he thought he might sink.

Sky New For his part, he explains that in normal times, the submarine sends a signal every fifteen minutes to indicate that it is safe. But the British channel realizes that these signals have stopped.

CBS reporter David Pogue who traveled on the submarine last year he told the BBC that the passengers were locked inside the main capsule, bolted and unable to get out on their own. On Twitter, he mentioned that the machine I got lost for a few hours last summer when I was on the boat..