ATLANTA — The search for a missing submersible, which disappeared on the way to the ruins and wreckage of the Titanic with five people aboard, is running out of time to find them.
The submersible only had a limited amount of oxygen and air.
This point in the Atlantic comes with extreme challenges.
Channel 2 Action News spoke with a local oceanography expert and learned there’s actually a local connection to one of the missing explorers.
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Deep sonar and now more high-tech ships are on the way to a search area to find the missing submersible and its passengers.
The search area has grown exponentially to twice the size of Connecticut. Georgia Tech oceanography expert Dr. Susan Lozier said the spot where the RMS Titanic wrecked in 1912 is home to treacherous conditions both above and below the water.
“The thing to keep in mind, just the surface conditions, boats and everything involved in this rescue operation, this part of the ocean is where the gulf stream continues up northward very energetic[ally] and interacts with the atmosphere, a stormy area,” Lozier, a Dean at Georgia Tech, told Channel 2′s Linda Stouffer.
The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed crews are working to determine the source of some underwater noises detected by a Canadian aircraft, and not for the first time since the vessel disappeared.
So far, there’s still no sign of the 21-foot vessel.
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“This is a search and rescue mission, 100%,” Capt. Jamie Frederick, First Coast Guard District, said. “We are smack dab in the middle of search and rescue and we’ll continue to put every available asset that we have in an effort to find the Titan and the crew members.”
Channel 2 Action News learned more about the passengers and crew members on the Titan and found out that of the five people onboard, one has a tie to Georgia, and the metro Atlanta area.
The passengers on the Titan are British explorer and billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shah-Zada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman, Oceangate CEO Stockton Rush, and world-renowned Titanic researcher and diver, Paul-Henry Nargeolet.
Nargeolet has ties to Georgia-based Experimental Media Group, where he’s listed as the company’s director of underwater research and runs their Titanic expeditions.
EMG has offices in Peachtree Corners. A company spokesman told Channel 2 Action News that “this is an extremely difficult time,” and their thoughts and prayers were with the families of the Titan’s crew.
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Even if the sub rose to the ocean’s surface on its own, there’s another challenge facing those inside.
The submersible is bolted shut from the outside. Rescuers would need to find the vessel and let out the passengers before the air runs out.
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