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US Coast Guard to give update on missing sub at 6pm UK time
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This morning, officials said they had detected underwater noises in the search area (see ‘Underwater noises heard’ post in live blog below). A report in the US claimed ‘banging’ sounds were heard at 30-minute intervals
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Overnight report claims “safety and quality control” issues had been raised about the missing sub in 2018 court documents (see ‘Safety fears raised’ below)
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British explorer Hamish Harding is one of five people missing, along with British-based Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman
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The other are French submersible pilot, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and chief executive of OceanGate Expeditions, Stockton Rush
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The submersible had about 96 hours of emergency oxygen on board, enough to last until Thursday morning
Missing submersible: Read more
Safety concerns raised over missing sub
Underwater noises detected in the search area of a missing deep-sea vessel is a “target” and a “focus” for the rescue operation, the US Coast Guard has said.
The submersible, named Titan, lost communication with tour operators on Sunday while about 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland, during a voyage to the Titanic shipwreck off the coast of Canada.
The US Coast Guard announced earlier on Wednesday that the Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater noises.
Later on Wednesday, the US Coast Guard tweeted: “Three vessels arrived on-scene Wednesday morning, the John Cabot has side scanning sonar capabilities and is conducting search patterns alongside the Skandi Vinland and the Atlantic Merlin.”
Rear Admiral John Mauger told CBS News: “This is an incredibly complex site there, you have to remember that it’s the wreck site of the Titanic, so there is a lot of metal and different objects in the water around the site.
“That’s why it’s so important that we’ve engaged experts from the navy that understand the science behind noise and can classify or give us better information about what the source of that noise may be.
“In the meantime, it’s something, it’s a target, it’s a focus for us to look at.
“We’ve deployed the remote-operated vehicles and the surface vessel, the Canadian Coast Guard surface vessel, that has sonar capability in the vicinity of that to see if we can detect anything in the water in that area.”
The Titan has five people on board, including British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, and the 6.7m (22ft) long OceanGate Expeditions vessel may have less than 24 hours of oxygen left.
The others on board are Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman and OceanGate’s chief executive and founder Stockton Rush, reportedly together with French submersible pilot Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
An array of vessels are involved in the search effort, including Bahamian research vessel Deep Energy, French research vessel L’Atalante, His Majesty’s Canadian Ship Glace Bay – for a mobile decompression chamber and medical personnel – and four Canadian Coast Guard vessels, according to the US Coast Guard.
Speaking to PA news agency, former Royal Navy submarine captain Ryan Ramsey said the rescue operation is made harder due to there being no replica of the Titan submersible to model a rescue attempt off should they find it.
He said: “It would have to be bespoke equipment. I don’t think anyone has planned for this kind of operation so they would have to create some kind of bespoke process to get a cable round or a fixing point on that particular submersible.
“The problem with that is, with most submersibles, they make two of them, they make two of them for reasons – for example, something does happen to one of them the rescuing porters can go see the other one and figure how they’re going to exercise the rescue.
“In this particular case, they only made one and so there’s no opportunity for people to work out what that solution is and to…
Read More: Titanic sub missing – LIVE: US Coast Guard set to give press conference