During a recent expedition, a submarine offering undersea tours of the submerged Titanic vanished without a trace. Currently, officials are undertaking an exhaustive search across the Atlantic to locate the missing vessel.
The disappearance of the deep-sea craft occurred over the past weekend, triggering a comprehensive search and rescue mission initiated by the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday. The missing sub is believed to have had four crew members and one passenger on board at the time of the incident.
The exact location where the submarine lost contact with its base of operations remains uncertain. However, reports suggest that it commenced a descent of 12,500 feet into the ocean to provide a close-up view of the Titanic wreckage off Newfoundland’s coast, Canada. The lone passenger on this mission is believed to be the renowned and wealthy British world explorer, Hamish Harding. His family has confirmed his presence on the ill-fated expedition.
Harding, who previously splurged on a seat aboard Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket, shared an enthusiastic photo of himself on Sunday, expressing his anticipation to be the final person to view the Titanic in ’23. OceanGate Expeditions, the organization owning and operating the submarine, had intended this expedition to be their final one for the year, with plans to resume in 2024.
The submarine in question is confirmed to be part of OceanGate’s fleet, with their crew still not returning from the mission. OceanGate, a private entity, provides exclusive Titanic tours, with ticket prices soaring up to $250k.
The standard duration for these OceanGate Titanic excursions is eight days, with individual dives to the Titanic lasting as long as ten hours. The company typically uses satellite technology for maintaining contact with their submarines. However, in this incident, all communication lines appear to have gone silent.
OceanGate’s primary concern, they say, is the safety of the crew members aboard the submersible and their families. They assured, “We are evaluating and deploying all resources to secure the crew’s safe return.” Currently, there seem to be no indications of life from the search efforts.
Artical Source http://www.tmz.com
