A race against time to find a missing submarine near the wreck of the Titanic. Conditions are “like on another planet”

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David Gallo, senior advisor for strategic initiatives at RMS Titanic, which holds the exclusive patent for the Titanic wreck site, said recovery salvors are engaged in a “race against time” to find the crew of the missing shipwreck en route to the wreck. CNN.

If the submarine remains intact, those on board will be dealing with low oxygen levels and battling the cold, Gallo told CNN.

Hypothermia will be a problem “if the sub is still down because in the deep ocean it’s right at the freezing point,” Gallo said.

“One of the biggest questions is where is it? Underneath, floating, in the middle of the water? It’s still undecided… We have to wait and see and hope for the best,” he said.

Once the submarine is found, the team may face even greater challenges in trying to rescue the crew.

“The water is very deep — about 3,500 meters. It’s like seeing another planet, it’s not what people think. It’s a sunless, cold, high-pressure environment,” Gallo said.

Gallo added that it’s one thing to get there, another to “understand the situation, what’s wrong with the submarine, and then go to work trying to get out of it.”

“It’s not like you’re looking for a large area of ​​the ocean floor.”

Locating the ship: Gallo says the surface ship should have a good idea of ​​what the ship’s last known position is.

“A submarine cannot go very far. If it has trouble on the surface, it can move a little, but below – 3.2 kilometers per hour, something like that. So the search area has to be small,” Gallo said.

However, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to find a small submarine in such deep and expansive waters, he said.

“That means you can focus on a very narrow area and bring your sonars, cameras and everything you need to do in that area to try to find the submarine,” Gallo said. “So it’s not like you’re searching a large area of ​​the ocean floor.”

CNN Update He revealed Four of the five people aboard the Titanic went missing near the wreck of the Titanic on Tuesday. Apart from British billionaire Hamish Harding, Shahjata Dawood, head of the SETI Institute, famous for its search for extraterrestrial life, was also on board the submarine.

Although authorities have not publicly identified any of the five passengers aboard the sub, their families, friends and companies have already begun sharing various pieces of information, providing a clearer picture of those aboard.

Here’s what we know about the crew so far:

Hamish Harding: British businessman and adventurer based in the United Arab Emirates. He owns Action Aviation, a company that buys and sells aircraft, including small private business jets, and confirmed he was on board the subsidiary on Sunday.

Harding was a passenger on the Blue Origin spaceflight in June 2022 and was one of the first people to travel to Challenger Deep in the Pacific Ocean – the deepest known point on Earth.

Paul-Henri Narjolet: Harding posted on social media Saturday that diver Narjolet will be with him on Sunday’s trip. CBC News spoke with Larry Daley, a diver from St. Petersburg, who confirmed that Narjolet was on the trip. Norjolet led several expeditions to the wreck of the Titanic and oversaw the recovery of many artifacts from the wreck, according to the E/M Group, where Norjolet was director of underwater research.

Shahjada and Sulaiman Dawood: A Pakistani businessman and his son were also on the boat, according to a statement released by the family on Tuesday. Shahjata is an administrator The famous SETI InstituteA California research institute specializing in the search for extraterrestrial life.

He is also the vice-chairman of Dawood Hercules Corporation, part of the Dawood Group, a conglomerate of various family-owned businesses.

Early news

There were 5 people in the boat. Among them is a British billionaire. The U.S. Coast Guard estimates that passengers would have oxygen for about 4 days if alive.

It’s been more than 24 hours since the search for a submarine that went missing near the wreck of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean.

The North American coastline is closely monitored by US and Canadian naval surveillance aircraft.

A submarine is also taking part in the operation, as well as sophisticated aircraft with underwater detection capabilities.

John W. Mauger, US Coast Guard: “The search is underway about 1,500 kilometers east of Cape Cod, at a depth of almost 4,000 meters. It’s an isolated area and it’s challenging to search that area.”

Unlike a submarine, this type of submarine requires a mother ship that can launch it and then retrieve it from the water. One hour and 45 minutes after the last launch, the ship lost contact with the crew at depth.

Retired Admiral Chris Barry of the British Navy: “It was a very difficult operation. At the bottom of the sea, the surface is very wavy. Titanic is in a ditch, in the sand, with a lot of debris around.”

The missing submarine – about 6.5 meters long and weighing 10 tonnes – belonged to OceanGate Expeditions.

“The submarine could have collided with the wreck of the Titanic, leading to a catastrophic failure”

Retired Admiral Chris Barry of the British Navy: “It’s a worrying situation and it’s getting more dangerous as time goes on. There’s one optimistic version, which is that communication with the people on the surface has been cut off. There’s a malfunction. The sub is still operating, but it’s now out of touch with the mother ship, and the other, The most pessimistic scenario is that there could have been an accident, the sub could have hit the Titanic, and it could have happened. A catastrophic failure”.

British billionaire Hamish Harding was one of the five passengers on board. No details are currently known about the others, but according to the US Coast Guard, a pilot and four so-called “mission operators” were aboard the submarine.

OceanGate Expeditions launched a trip to the wreck of the Titanic in 2021. At the time, representatives of the company said that in addition to archaeologists and marine biologists, the expeditions also included tourists, who paid $ 250,000 for such a unique walk.

For the trip lasting 8 days, the participants had to sign a contract whereby they accepted the risks.