The business of commercial deep sea journeys | DW News

A desperate search for a missing submersible near the wreck of the Titanic reached a critical stage on Thursday, with only hours remaining before the five people on board run out of oxygen. Rescue organizers rushed more ships and vessels to the site of the disappearance, hoping to locate the tiny vessel after detecting underwater sounds for a second straight day. What’s the state of the search now? Coast Guard officials said they remained “hopeful” as fresh assets joined the search, but the challenge of rescuing the crew alive appears increasingly formidable. Those on board the Titan had a four-day supply of oxygen when they set off early on Sunday. In addition to pinpointing the vessel’s location, the rescuers would still need to bring it to the surface — or supply it with oxygen some other way — before the passengers’ oxygen supply runs out. With oxygen supplies expected to run out for the five people on board the Titan on Thursday — although precise timeframes can vary — Simon Boxall, a senior lecturer in oceanography at the University of Southampton in the UK, told DW on Thursday that it made sense to continue rescue operations. “If we give up hope, then we give up the rescue,” he said. “Although the theory says that they run out of oxygen sometime around midday today UK time, they may well be able to survive longer. We don’t know. It depends on the physiology of the people there. It depends on their condition. There are so many unknowns. We have to keep this search going for the foreseeable future — for the next day or two.” Ships and planes have searched 10,000 square miles (around 20,000 square kilometers) of surface water — roughly the size of Slovenia — to find the vessel some 400 nautical miles (740 kilometers) off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The rescuers relocated two remotely operated vehicles capable of searching under the water and one surface vessel with sonar capability after a Canadian P-3 aircraft detected sounds possibly coming from Titan. The 21-foot (6.5-meter) tourist submersible lost communication with its mothership less than two hours into its trip. It is unclear what the problem may have been. The operating company, OceanGate Expeditions, charges $250,000 (€227,610) for a place on the submersible.