In this photograph released by Action Aviation, the submersible Titan is set to dive into the Atlantic Ocean on an expedition to the Titanic on Sunday, June 18, 2023. An air and sea search continues today in the remote area of ocean south of Newfoundland for a submersible carrying five people that went missing during a dive on the wreckage of the Titanic. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Action Aviation via AP
HALIFAX – An air and sea search continues today in a remote area of ocean south of Newfoundland for a submersible carrying five people that went missing during a dive to the wreckage of the Titanic.
The search, in an area about 700 kilometres south of St. John’s, N.L., is a race against time because the 6.4-metre vessel had a 96-hour oxygen supply when it submerged on Sunday, according to an adviser for owner OceanGate Expeditions.
The surface launch ship Polar Prince reportedly lost contact with the submersible named the Titan about an hour and 45 minutes into its dive.
In a tweet, the U.S. Coast Guard says the Polar Prince was continuing surface searches today along with a second vessel the Deep Energy, while a Canadian military Aurora patrol aircraft is conducting sonar searches.
U.S. search officials say two Hercules aircraft flights were completed overnight from the coast guard station in Elizabeth City, N.C.
As of this morning, the U.S. Coast Guard says the total search area completed is nearly 26,000 square kilometres.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2023.
