PARIS — A French research ship equipped with an unmanned robot able to search deep under water arrived near the wreck of the Titanic on Thursday to join a massive search and rescue operation for a missing submersible that has not communicated since its lowering on Sunday.
With just hours of oxygen believed to be left for the five people onboard the submersible Titan, the Atalante ship arrived around two kilometers south of the Titanic wreck after 0800 GMT, according to the MarineTraffic website.
Coast guard officials insisted they remained "hopeful," with a surge of assets and experts joining the operation and sonar picking up unidentified underwater noises, but the challenge of locating and recovering the crew alive appeared increasingly formidable.
Based on the sub's capacity to hold up to 96 hours of emergency air, rescuers estimated that the passengers could run out of oxygen in the early hours of Thursday.
The French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER), which operates the ship, which carries the Victor 6000, a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) capable of descending to a depth of 6,000 meters.
The wreck sits at a depth of around 3,800 meters, making it particularly difficult to reach, let along attach to it for any possible attempt to raise the sunken Titan.
The tourist submersible began its descent towards the wreck on Sunday morning, losing contact with its support ship on the surface two hours later.
It was carrying British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani tycoon Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, the CEO of the company OceanGate Expeditions Stockton Rush, and French submarine operator Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
Based on the sub's capacity to hold up to 96 hours of emergency air, rescuers estimate that the passengers may run out of oxygen on Thursday. That time has largely been reached according to several sources.
Rescue efforts have focused on trying to figure out the source of underwater noises detected late Sunday.
Rob Larter, a marine expert at the British Antarctic Survey, told a press conference he thought the Victor 6000 was the "main hope" for an underwater rescue.
Alistair Greig, a professor of marine engineering at University College London, said the Victor 6000 has two manipulator arms which could allow it to untangle the Titan, or attach a device that could float it to the surface.
The robot also has strong lights, allowing to see through the murk at such depths.
But the experts warned that the rescuers would need to know fairly precisely where to look for Titan, which currently does not seem to be the case. And the clock keeps ticking.
Coast Guard officials insisted they remained "hopeful," with a surge of assets and experts joining the operation and sonar picking up unidentified underwater noises, but the challenge of locating and recovering the crew alive appeared increasingly formidable.
Those noises detected earlier have not been heard since.
( VOA)
