A rescue operation is currently underway to locate and rescue five passengers on a deep-sea submersible that has seemingly disappeared on its expedition to the RMS Titanic wreck site in the North Atlantic Ocean.
The submersible vessel, named Titan and from the OceanGate Expeditions private company, was reported overdue on Sunday night at about 435 miles south of St. John's Newfoundland, according to reports.
"It is a remote area and it is a challenge to conduct a search in that remote area," commander for the U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said, according to an Associated Press report.
"But we are deploying all available assets to make sure we can locate the craft and rescue the people on board."
It is not clear what occurred with the vessel, but during the expedition Titan lost communication with its support vessel, the Canadian research icebreaker Polar Prince, one hour and 45 minutes into the dive.
Who Is On Board?
The identities of the five individuals on the submersible have been made public.
The five confirmed passengers include Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate; French submersible pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet; and billionaire British explorer Hamish Harding.
The other two passengers had their identities confirmed by their families as Pakistani businessman Shahza Dawood and his son Sulaiman Dawood.
The vessel can carry a maximum of five people: a pilot, a content expert, and three paying passengers. Tickets for an expedition to the Titanic wreckage cost about $250,000.
What Are Conditions Like? How Much Oxygen Is Left?
David Concannon, an adviser to OceanGate, has spoken about the importance of a swift rescue.
Speaking to NewsNation on Monday, Concannon said he has done five expeditions and multiple dives to the Titanic wreckage at a depth of 12,500 feet.
"We're working as hard as we possibly can to get assets on site that can find and recover the submersible and bring these people home safely. That's all we care about, that's all we've been working on since we lost communication with them," he said.
Regarding oxygen levels, he said that crew members had 96 hours of oxygen from the time they went down (roughly 9 a.m. local time yesterday).
Mauger also spoke at a press briefing in Boston about the oxygen levels.
"We understood that there was 96 hours of emergency capability from the operator," he said.
"And so we anticipate that there's somewhere between 70 to the full 96 hours available at this point.
By these estimates, it would mean the oxygen in the submersible will last until Thursday afternoon on Eastern Time at the latest.
How Is the Search Going?
Mauger has said that the rescue operation is difficult due to the area in which the submersible is believed to be.
Concannon has also said that the private sector has the correct assets for the rescue but the federal government has also been contacted for extra resources.
Concannon suggested there has been a delay in communications between U.S. government officials who need to sign off on the movement and use of certain equipment.
He said essential recovery equipment is waiting on the island of Guernsey, a self-governing British Crown dependency and officials need to sign off on the plane taking off with the equipment.
"This equipment has been on the [runway] for hours," Concannon said. "When I communicate with the U.S. government, I get 'out of office' replies, not from everyone, but from key people that have a sign-off on this. That's unacceptable," he said.
"We need to move. We do not have minutes or hours. We need to move now.
"If we move fast, we can get to the site in 40 hours from where the ship is now. If we get the assets flown from Guernsey, Channel Islands overnight, we can have them mobilized on the ship in a day and we can get there inside the window."
The U.S. government has not commented on the accusation by Concannon.
Map: Where Did the Titanic Go Down?
At the time of its shipwreck, April 15, 1912, the Titanic was the world's largest ship. It sank after hitting an iceberg during its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City.
Some of the 2,200 passengers and crew were able to be rescued and survived but more than 1,500 died in the incident.
The wreckage was not discovered until 1985 and is believed to be 435 miles south of St John's, Newfoundland. The wreckage has become a point of interest for many interested in the Titanic disaster and explorers.
What Could Have Gone Wrong?
While it is not clear what went wrong on this particular voyage some experts have weighed in on some of the possible scenarios that led to its disappearance, according to a CNN report.
Eric Fusil, a submarine expert and associate professor at the University of Adelaide suggested a potential power failure would be enough to cause an issue.
While some submersibles have a second source of energy in case of these eventualities, it is not clear whether the Titan vessel had one.
He also suggested a short circuit on board could have caused a fire, potentially ruining the vessel's system while also creating toxic fumes in a small enclosed space.
With strong currents underwater debris on the ocean floor could also cause the submersible to become trapped or have its path blocked.
Fusil also said due to the immense pressure from the depths, flooding is a risk. Most vessels would implode at the depths of the Titanic shipwreck, according to Fusil
However, the Titan is believed to have new safety features that monitor pressure on the vessel and triggers warnings to the pilot if any issues are detected.
What Does Submarine Imploding Mean?
Florida-based senior research scientist Steve Somlyody spoke to Fox News Digital yesterday and suggested the submersible may have suffered a catastrophic implosion.
"For there not to be any communications or any movement, indications are that something went critical," he said.
"The pressure down there at 4,000 meters is pretty high. About 5,800 PSI at Titanic depth. If they had any kind of leak, it would lead to an implosion and it would happen in an instant, very immediately. You wouldn't even know it happened.
"The lack of signs of communication is deeply worrisome."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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