Hope persists but time is running out. The desperate search for the five missing in the submersible that sought to explore the remains of the Titanic seems to have entered its last phase, with only a few hours of oxygen in the artifact’s reserves, according to expert calculations. The large rescue team deployed in the area, some 600 kilometers from the Newfoundland coast, clung on Wednesday to the “sounds” at half-hour intervals that a Canadian plane has managed to detect.

It is a “P-3 device that detected underwater sounds in the search area,” as reported by the First District of the United States Coast Guard, later resorting to a remotely operated vehicle that was trying to get closer. to the place where the noises were heard. Captain Jamie Frederick of the Coast Guard said this afternoon that the sounds were first picked up on Tuesday and again the next day, with “inconclusive” results.

It is, for the moment, the only indication that the five people aboard the Titan, the name of the submersible, could still be alive. “You have to keep hoping,” said Frederick, who assured that more boats have already been sent to the area, including one with a French robot on board capable of searching the bottom of the sea.

According to experts, in the best of cases, the Titan would be on the surface of the ocean. It is equipped with safety systems that allow it to rise to the surface in an emergency, even if all the occupants are unconscious.

However, if the Titan were to get stuck at the bottom of the ocean, its occupants would eventually run out of oxygen and suffer hypothermia from the extreme cold. The craft could also become caught in a fishing net or other entanglement. In those cases, the best way to achieve this would be to use a robot remotely controlled by a fiber optic cable, explains Jeff Karson, professor emeritus of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Syracuse University.

The obstacles are still huge, according to the coast guard team involved in the search. An area “twice the size of Connecticut” is being searched and with the added difficulty of the depth to which the submersible could have reached. She was trying to reach the bottom of the 12,000-foot wreckage of the Titanic, which sank in April 1912.

Experts have also explained that it would be difficult to get the ship out of the water in case they find it. Still, three boats have been sent from Boston to the area, including one with sonar that could help detect more sounds.

Frank Owen, an expert in submarines and rescues at great depth, has indicated to the AP Agency that the noises send a message that on board they know that military techniques are being used for the rescue and it is their way of manifesting themselves. “If that’s the case it’s really hopeful,” he said. For his part, John Mauger, commander of the first district of the US Coast Guard, confirmed that sounds have been detected but that “the source” is unknown. He added that they are working on the premise that he had until Thursday morning to rescue the missing five.

The missing are the pilot, Stockton Rush -also the CEO of the company that organized the expedition, OceanGate Expeditions-, a British businessman with a long record of adventures, Hamish Harding, two Pakistanis, Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, father and son, members of one of the richest families in the country, and Paul-Henry Nargeolet, one of the leading experts on the Titanic, a catastrophe that left 1,514 dead.

Rush, who founded the company in 2009, worried that the ocean would eventually deteriorate the Titanic’s wreckage beyond recognition for further study. He also encountered fishing nets and other “entanglement hazards” while trying to get back to the surface.

The messages of gratitude for the support received for the disappeared have followed one another from their relatives in what was the third expedition of the Titan towards the rest of the Titanic, a submersible made of carbon fiber and titanium weighing about 10 tons and about 7 meters in length. “We are very grateful for the concern shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to ask everyone to pray for their safety while ensuring the family’s privacy at this time,” a statement from the Dawoods said.

At the same time, suspicions of negligence on the part of OceanGate Expeditions have surfaced. According to a 2018 lawsuit against the company filed in federal court in Seattle, the submersible was not well-prepared for such expeditions and had safety concerns. David Lochridge, OceanGate’s former director of marine operations, is the author of a report that suggested more testing was needed before descending to “extreme depths.”

OceanGate sued Lochridge that year, accusing him of violating a confidentiality agreement. The engineer, for his part, filed a countersuit alleging that he was unfairly fired for raising concerns about testing and safety. The case was settled on undisclosed terms several months after his filing.

Lochridge was concerned about the company’s safety procedures, relying on acoustic monitoring that detected crackling sounds made by the hull under pressure to detect failures, rather than a full hull scan.

Ossion Fanning, who traveled aboard the Titan twice last summer, has indicated that the key for people inside the cylindrical ship is to remain calm and avoid panicking, which would contribute to depleting oxygen reserves. . The submersible is equipped to withstand 96 hours in an emergency.

Fanning has said she doesn’t think either Rush or Nargeolet will panic given their experience. He met both of them last summer on their trips to the bottom of the sea. On security issues, he said that he was aware of the dangers that existed but that he could not have wanted to see the remains of the Titanic.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project