Search and rescue teams were racing against the clock Tuesday morning to locate a submersible that vanished in a remote area of the Atlantic Ocean on an expedition to explore the Titanic wreck.
The sub, which has five people aboard, is designed to have about 96 hours of emergency oxygen. With that supply now greatly diminished, an already difficult and challenging search was intensifying.
“We’re using that time, making the best use of every moment of that time, to locate the vessel,” U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. John W. Mauger said at a news conference Monday afternoon.
According to the Coast Guard, which is leading the rescue effort out of Boston, the sub lost contact with the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince about 1 hour and 45 minutes into its dive Sunday morning, about 900 miles east of Cape Cod.
The search is unfolding in a remote location about 13,000 feet deep, officials have said.
The Coast Guard said updates were planned for Tuesday morning. A news conference is scheduled for 1 p.m. Eastern time in Boston.
In an interview with “Good Morning America,” Mauger said multiple aerial searches were conducted overnight in an area roughly the size of Connecticut. The teams are expanding their efforts with the help of a commercial vessel that has a remote-operated vehicle for underwater dives, he said.
Canada’s armed forces and coast guard are also lending aerial and surface support. A Canadian P-8 Poseidon aircraft was conducting surface and subsurface searches, the Coast Guard said on Twitter, where it has been posting updates. Two C-130 transport planes also have performed aerial searches using radar.
OceanGate Expeditions organized the dive and owns and operates the missing submersible. The company has been running expeditions with “citizen explorers” to the Titanic since 2021 on its 21-foot sub, called the Titan, according to its website. The trip can cost around $250,000.
OceanGate confirmed in a statement Monday that it had been unable to locate the submersible for “some time.”
“Our entire focus is on the well-being of the crew, and every step possible is being taken to bring the five crew members back safely,” the company said in a statement. “We are deeply grateful for the urgent and extensive assistance we are receiving from multiple government agencies and deep-sea companies as we seek to reestablish contact with the submersible. We pray for the safe return of the crew and passengers, and we will provide updates as they are available.”
Though officials have so far declined to release any details of those aboard, four of the five people have been identified.
In an email Monday, Action Aviation, a Dubai-based company dealing in aviation sales and acquisitions, confirmed that its chairman, Hamish Harding, was aboard the vessel.
Mathieu Johann, an agent for Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a veteran and accomplished diver with more than 30 trips to the wreck site, confirmed to the New York Times that Nargeolet was also among the missing.
In a statement posted on Twitter, Engro, a Pakistan-based conglomerate, confirmed that its vice chairman, Shahzada Dawood, and his son Sulaiman Dawood were on board.
The fifth person has been identified only as the vessel’s pilot.
According to its website, OceanGate is a privately owned company in Everett, Wash., established in 2009, that operates a trio of five‑person submersibles for “site survey, scientific research, film production and exploration travel.” Its vessels can reach depths of about 13,123 feet, the company said.
The company offers an eight-day, seven-night voyage to the Titanic wreck, according to its website. The round-trip from St. John’s in Newfoundland takes “intrepid travelers” to explore the Titanic wreck. Dive expeditions can begin as early as Day 3, the company says on its website.
Harding had detailed parts of his trip across social media until he went missing Sunday. The expedition left from St. John’s on Friday, Harding wrote on his Facebook page. A “weather window” had opened up, allowing for a dive to the wreck Sunday. It was likely to be the only “manned mission” this year because of the harsh winter, he wrote.
His company, Action Aviation, also posted on Twitter about the voyage.
Harding wrote on Instagram that the team on the sub has “legendary explorers,” including Nargeolet.
The Titanic was a British luxury liner that made its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, on April 10, 1912, bound for New York with 2,227 passengers and crew aboard. But the vessel, then the largest in the world, rammed an iceberg and sank in the early hours of April 15, killing more than 1,500 people. In September 1985, an American and French team of researchers found the liner thousands of feet below the depths of the ocean.
Times staff writer Summer Lin contributed to this report.
