This is a breaking news update. More information to come. Original copy from CTVNews.ca follows.
A remotely operated underwater vehicle has discovered a debris field near the Titanic.
"Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information," the U.S. Coast Guard said just before noon on Thursday.
According to CNN, the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) was first to reach the sea floor and is owned by the Massachusetts company Pelagic Research Services. CTVNews.ca has reached out to the company for confirmation.
The U.S. Coast Guard said this morning the Canadian ship Horizon Arctic had deployed an ROV that had reached the sea floor and started its search for the missing OceanGate submersible. A French vessel, L'Atalante, had also joined the effort and deployed an additional ROV.
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The oxygen supply on the missing submersible has now passed the estimated maximum 96-hour mark, and as of Thursday afternoon, there were no further leads on its location.
The submersible, called the Titan, went missing more than 600 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland early Sunday morning during a dive to the wreck of the Titanic.
The sub's air supply was expected to run out between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. EDT today, based on the information given by the U.S. Coast Guard and OceanGate Expeditions, the submersible's owner and operator.
The Titan is carrying five passengers: Hamish Harding, a billionaire and explorer; Paul-Henry (PH) Nargeolet, a French explorer; Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, members of a prominent Pakistani family; and OceanGate CEO and Titan pilot Stockton Rush.
ROVs JOIN SEARCH
On Tuesday, a Royal Canadian Air Force plane was able to detect "underwater noises" from one area of the search. More sounds were heard on Wednesday, but officials could not determine if they were coming from the submersible.
Following the leads, officials supplied the area where the noises were heard with search teams and ROVs from Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic and French ship L'Atalante. A French research institute said their ROV is equipped with cameras, lights and arms.
Other vessels on the scene include Canadian Coast Guard Ships (CCGS) John Cabot, Ann Harvey and Terry Fox. They were joined Thursday morning by the Royal Canadian Navy ship HMCS Glace Bay, which carries a mobile decompression chamber and medical personnel. According to a press release from the U.S. Coast Guard, other search assets include an air Air National Guard C-130 Hercules aircraft and an ROV from Magellan.
"Our Canadian partners have been providing critical leadership and significant response capabilities since the beginning of our efforts," Capt. Jamie Frederick of the U.S. Coast Guard told reporters during a press conference in Boston on Wednesday.
'A CRITICAL DAY'
On Thursday, co-founder of OceanGate Guillermo Sohnlein wrote on Facebook, "today will be a critical day."
"I'm certain that Stockton (Rush) and the rest of the crew realized days ago that the best thing they can do to ensure their rescue is to extend the limits of those (oxygen) supplies by relaxing as much as possible," Sohnlein said. "I firmly believe that the time window available for their rescue is longer than what most people think."
OceanGate Expeditions has been running tours to the British ocean-liner since 2021, carrying at least 46 people to the wreck. Since the Titan's disappearance, details have emerged from a 2018 engineering report alleging issues with the submersible's structure and its ability to withstand the immense pressure of the deep ocean.
Officials said Wednesday that efforts to find the submersible would scale up hour-by-hour overnight into Thursday morning.
The submersible was headed to the site of the 1912 sinking of the Titanic, located approximately 600 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland at a depth of about 3,800 metres.
The crew aboard the support ship, the Polar Prince, lost contact with the submersible on Sunday an hour and 45 minutes into its dive, which began at approximately 6 a.m. The U.S. Coast Guard notified in the afternoon.
The submersible reportedly has backup systems that can return it to the surface in an emergency. Submersibles like the Titan are deployed from a mother ship, while submarines can travel to and from ports under their own power. Although submersibles can be tethered to a ship on the surface, the Titan apparently travelled independently.