A spokesman for the US Coast Guard in Boston told the Washington Post that a search and rescue mission is underway.
The company’s statement did not clarify how many people were on board, but said its “attention is focused on the members of the submersible’s crew and their families.” Their website says their submersibles can hold five people.
The US Coast Guard said Monday afternoon Twitter that a C-130 aircraft is searching for a “overdue” search submarine approximately 900 miles off Cape Cod.
He added that the Rescue Coordination Center in Halifax is assisting in the search with a P8 Poseidon aircraft with underwater detection capabilities.
Marine Traffic vessel tracking service said via Twitter on Monday that he could see three ships headed for the site of the Titanic
OceanGate Expeditions began taking crews of “citizen scientists” or “crew members” on the sub to see the wreck of the RMS Titanic in 2021. Its website says OceanGate runs eight-day expeditions to the wreck, with a in progress and the next one. scheduled for June 2024.
“OceanGate Expeditions makes you a full member of the crew and the experience allows you to participate in every aspect of the expedition,” says a review on the company’s website attributed to two-time customer Renata R.
The Titanic, the largest ship of its time, was deemed unsinkable before its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York in April 1912 with more than 2,200 passengers and crew on board. After hitting an iceberg, it sank in the North Atlantic Ocean, killing more than 1,500 people, according to most estimates. His remains now lie on the ocean floor under 12,500 feet of water, approximately 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.
Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate, told CBS last year that the expedition costs $250,000 per person. Rush said some of the Titanic enthusiasts – or “Titaniacs” – who travel with the submersible mortgage their homes to make the trip or save for 30 years, while others are so rich they don’t think twice in the cost
David Pogue, a CBS reporter who went on the Titanic expedition, said via Twitter that the submersible he was traveling in also disappeared for a few hours last year.
Neither Rush nor OceanGate could immediately be reached Monday to discuss the missing.
A submersible differs from a submarine in that the former is supported by a surface vessel, platform, shore equipment, or sometimes a larger submarine.
The Titanic has already been in the news several times this year. In May, an underwater 3D scanning project led by British deep-sea mapping company Magellan revealed a “digital twin” of the ship with surprising features of the wreckage.
Earlier this year, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a non-profit ocean research organization, released largely unseen footage of the ship from 1986. The video, which shows the wreckage of the Titanic months after it was discovered, it marked the 25th anniversary of the movie “Titanic,” whose writer-director James Cameron continues to support Titanic research.
