FRANTIC search teams have until just 12.08pm today to find and rescue the five crew members helplessly stranded on the Titanic sub.
But it’s feared time may have run out to successfully locate the stricken vessel and winch it to safety before the sub’s oxygen supply runs out.
The pilot of a Royal Canadian Air Force CP-140 Aurora maritime surveillance aircraft of 14 Wing flies a search pattern for the missing[/caption]
A US Navy CURV21 was among robot subs joining the last-ditch bid[/caption]
OceanGate’s sub, Titan, vanished less than two hours into its descent 12,500ft down to the Titanic wreckage on Sunday.
It failed to resurface that afternoon with just 96 hours of life support and five people on board. The sub’s final “ping” to mothership Polar Prince placed it directly above the ruins.
The US Coast Guard has warned the oxygen supply is due to be exhausted at 12.08pm today – giving search teams an extremely narrow window to pull off an extraordinary rescue.
British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, 58, businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Suleman, 19, paid £200,000-a-head for the trip.
It was led by OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, 61, and veteran French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77.
Sounds of banging detected underwater on Wednesday raised hopes of a last-gasp miracle as extra rescue ships rushed to join a last-ditch bid to find lost craft Titan in the Atlantic.
The late arrivals – carrying the world’s most advanced undersea search technology – provide the best hope of an incredible last-minute rescue as rescue teams race against the clock today.
US Coast Guard captain Jamie Frederick confirmed deep-sea noises had been heard which were being analysed by sonar experts to establish if they came from the 22ft craft.
But the officials said remote-controlled underwater search vehicles directed to where the noises were detected had not yielded results.
Australian submarine search and rescue expert Frank Owen told The Sun the thuds were “very significant” as they happened at 30-minute intervals.
He said: “This is standard procedure for naval submariners when stuck in a disabled submarine.
“They are told to bang on the hull for 3 minutes on the hour and at minute 30.
“This tells me that the French diver onboard (ex-Navy) is sending a message that says ‘We know you are looking for us and this is a clue that we are not just making random noise’.”
French ship L’Atalante – carrying the robot Victor 6000, which is capable of reaching depths of 20,000ft, has arrived at the scene.
The robot can dive deeper than other equipment at the site.
Operated by a 25-strong crew, it has arms that can be operated to cut cables or perform other manoeuvres to release a stuck vessel.
While the vehicle could not lift Titan to the surface on its own, it could help to hook it to a ship.
A US Navy CURV21 undersea robot was also due to arrive and was seen as the best chance of saving the crew — if they are found alive.
It can salvage wreckage and craft up to 20,000ft down – and last year pulled off a world record recovery of a Seahawk helicopter at a depth of 19,075ft off Japan.
Sonar teams hope they can detect the sub in the icy depths in time for the CURV21 to pull off a rescue.
The unprecedented feat would involve the tethered deep-sea robot attaching its cable to the Titan in pitch darkness near the ocean floor.
It would then need to pull the OceanGate Expedition company’s ten-ton craft aboard a US Navy ship at breakneck speed.
Even if the sub reaches the surface in time, crews will still have to unbolt the Titan’s sealed titanium hull to free the five.
Former Royal Navy Rear Admiral Chris Parry said: “If anything can bring them up, it’s this kit.”
British billionaire Hamish Harding is one of the five trapped on the sub[/caption]
Sahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, 19, are on the lost sub[/caption]
But experts have warned that even if the sub is located, it will take hours to winch it to the surface.
Deep-sea explorer Dr David Gallo told Good Morning Britain, he said: “We have to, at this point, assume that that’s the submarine [banging] and move quickly to that spot, locate it and get robots down there to verify that is where the submarine is.
“They’ve got to go fully ready as if that was the sub because it takes a while to locate it and get it up to the surface, it takes hours.”
US explorer Josh Gates claims Titan “should have returned to surface” as the sub has redundancy measures including weight drop systems.
Speaking to Sky News, he said the face he hasn’t surfaced opens up questions about what else may have gone wrong.
Retired Navy captain David Marquet said it’s likely those trapped on the sub, which has raised concerns over the quality of equipment and material used, are “freezing cold”.
He told CNN: “The water entirely surrounding the ship is at freezing or slightly below.
“When they exhale, their breath condenses. There’s frost on the inside of the parts of the submarine.
“They’re all huddled together trying to conserve their body heat.
“They’re running low on oxygen and they’re exhaling carbon dioxide.”
The deepest successful underwater rescue in history was in 1973 when British engineers Roger Mallinson and Roger Chapman were saved after their submersible became trapped on the seabed at 1,575ft.
This operation would be 11,000ft deeper.
The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage to New York on April 14, 1912, after hitting an iceberg.
More than 1,500 of the 2,200 passengers and crew onboard were killed, and many died within minutes of being thrown into the -2C waters.
The decaying wreck of the 822ft liner was first discovered in 1985.
