Rescuers Follow Banging Noises in Search for Missing Titanic Submersible

Rescuers shifted their search for a missing submersible to an area where Canadian aircraft detected banging noises underwater, officials said Wednesday, as the clock ticked down in the race to find the crew that was headed to the Titanic shipwreck.

The U.S. Coast Guard said Navy analysts haven’t determined the source of the noises, which were heard on Tuesday and on Wednesday morning.

“We don’t know what they are, to be frank with you,” Capt. Jamie Frederick of the First Coast Guard District said Wednesday afternoon.

The Coast Guard said there are five surface assets and two remotely operated vehicles currently searching in the area the noises came from, with more arriving in the coming day.

“Although the ROV searches have yielded negative results, they continue,” Frederick said.

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The banging sounds offered a dash of hope during an extensive search in a remote part of the North Atlantic. The world has watched as international crews have combed an area twice the size of Connecticut for a roughly 22-foot-long submersible that disappeared Sunday on a trip to the Titanic shipwreck, which is more than 2 miles underwater. The search area has expanded by the hour because of weather conditions and ocean currents, Frederick said.

The banging sounds offered a dash of hope during an extensive search in a remote part of the North Atlantic. The world has watched as international crews have combed an area twice the size of Connecticut for a roughly 22-foot-long submersible that disappeared Sunday on a trip to the Titanic shipwreck, which is more than 2 miles underwater. The search area has expanded by the hour because of weather conditions and ocean currents, Frederick said.

The people on board the submersible include a prominent British-Pakistani businessman and his son, a wealthy British aviator and a French dive expert who is considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on the Titanic wreck.

The emergency oxygen on the submersible, called the Titan, was expected to run out on Thursday morning, according to a timeline laid out Tuesday by the Coast Guard. Frederick said that the oxygen supply was one of many data points that rescue crews were considering. He said there were limited rations on board the vessel. The Coast Guard didn’t immediately respond to a request for an updated oxygen estimate.

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