June 19 (UPI) — A small submersible with five people aboard went missing off the coast of Newfoundland during an expedition to visit the site of the sunken HMS Titanic, and U.S. and Canadian coast guard crews were in a race against time to find the vessel Monday.
In an afternoon update, U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger, commander of the First Coast Guard District, in Boston said the search is being conducted on the ocean’s surface with a U.S. Coast Guard C-130 plane.
The sub carries about 96 hours of oxygen, officials said. Mauger believes the remaining supply may be enough for as little as 70 hours of survivability.
He said the search is ongoing under the waves, too, with sonar buoys dropped by Canadian coast guard P-8 aircraft. The buoys are attempting to detect any sounds that might be coming from the vessel under water or from the ocean floor.
The search is taking place about 900 miles east of Cape Cod, Mauger said, adding that the waters in that area of the Atlantic are about 13,000 feet deep.
Making the search more difficult, officials said, is the Titanic’s vast debris field that complicates any search on the ocean floor.
Mauger also said the Coast Guard is in contact with commercial ships in the area that are participating in the search on the surface.
Five people were aboard the submersible, including a pilot and four mission specialists.
British adventurer Hamish Harding and French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet are among the members of the expedition.
Harding, 58, is the chairman of Action Aviation, a business aviation company based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In 2019, he captained a mission to fly around the world in an attempt to break two Guinness World Records.
Nargeolet is a 25-year veteran of the French navy.
Earlier in the day, Lt. Jordan Hart of the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed to CBS News that a search and rescue operation was underway.
OceanGate Expeditions said efforts are underway to locate the submersible, which was on a mission to visit the wreckage of the Titanic about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.
“Our entire focus is on crewmembers in the submersible and their families,” the company told CBS News. “We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible. We are working toward the safe return of crewmembers.”
It wasn’t immediately clear how many people were on the submersible.
The submersible was reported missing after it was overdue Sunday evening, CBC News reported.
The company said it uses Starlink technology to maintain communication during undersea expeditions.
OceanGate is a private company founded in 2009 in Everett, Wash., that touts a fleet of five-person submersibles for charter and scientific exploration that can reach depths of up to 2.5 miles.
The company’s website details a 10-day mission to visit the Titanic site. Cost to join the tour is $250,000.