“Debris Field” has been found near the Titanic wreck. A “debris field” was spotted by an underwater robot looking near the Titanic site for a lost submersible with five people on board, rescuers said Thursday.
The development came as rescuers insisted that the global search for the craft was still focused on finding the crew alive, despite fears that the vessel’s oxygen supply had depleted.
“Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information,” the US Coast Guard tweeted.
The coast guard said the debris field was found “within the search area by an ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) near the Titanic.”
It did not give more details but said it would hold a press briefing at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT) in Boston.
As a “Debris Field” had been found near the Titanic wreck, two more robots were launched Thursday in the search for the Titan sub, which has gone missing somewhere in the North Atlantic between the ocean’s surface and more than two miles (almost four kilometers) below.
Rescuers believed that the passengers, who included fee-paying visitors, may have run out of oxygen in the early hours of Thursday based on the sub’s capacity to hold up to 96 hours of emergency air.
But as that possible deadline passed, US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said rescuers were “fully committed” to search operations.
“People’s will to live really needs to be accounted for as well. We’re going to continue searching,” he told NBC’s Today Show.
A surge of assets and experts have joined the operation in the past day, and sonar has picked up unidentified underwater noises.
Organizers of the response — which includes US and Canadian military planes, coast guard ships, and teleguided robots — are focusing their efforts close to the sounds.
The noises, heard Tuesday and Wednesday and which have been described as sounding like “banging,” raised hopes that the passengers are still alive, though experts have not been able to confirm their source.
The French research ship Atalante deployed an unmanned robot capable of searching at depths of up to 6,000 metres (almost 20,000 feet) below water on Thursday, according to a tweet from the US Coast Guard.
The Victor 6000 has been dubbed “the main hope” for underwater rescue by experts.
Horizon Arctic, a Canadian ship, also released a robot that had already reached the ocean floor and begun its hunt.
Mauger also stated that vessels carrying medical personnel and a decompression chamber are on their way to the area.
The 21-foot (6.5-meter) Titan began its descent at 8:00 am on Sunday and had been due to resurface seven hours later.
But the craft lost communication with its mothership less than two hours into its trip to see the Titanic.
It was carrying British billionaire Hamish Harding and dual Pakistani-British citizens Shahzada Dawood, a tycoon, and his son Suleman. OceanGate Expeditions charges $250,000 for a seat on the sub.
Also on board is OceanGate’s CEO, Stockton Rush, and a French submarine operator Paul-Henri Nargeolet, nicknamed “Mr. Titanic” for his frequent dives at the site.
Ships and planes have scoured 10,000 square miles (around 20,000 square kilometers) of surface water — roughly the size of the US state of Massachusetts — for the vessel.
The Titanic’s watery tomb is 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, and more than two miles below the North Atlantic’s surface.
Experts suggest that even if the submersible is discovered, lifting it from deep water will be difficult.
The Navy has supplied a specialized winch system for lifting huge objects from great depths, as well as other equipment and troops, while the Pentagon has sent three C-130s and three C-17s.
The Titanic collided with an iceberg and sank in 1912 on its maiden trip from England to New York, carrying 2,224 passengers and crew. Over 1500 individuals were killed.
