The missing Titanic tourist submersible carrying five reportedly ran out of oxygen early this morning, according to Coast Guard estimates.
OceanGate Expeditions, the operator of the Titan submersible, informed the Coast Guard on Sunday evening that the vehicle had only 96 hours’ worth of oxygen supply, indicating that it would run out around 7:08 a.m. on Thursday. The fate of the five passengers aboard the ill-fated trip remains uncertain, as US and Canadian officials tirelessly collaborate to locate the missing sub, which is approximated to be somewhere east of Cape Cod.
Thursday morning, the Coast Guard confirmed that a remote-operated vehicle had reached the ocean floor and initiated the search for the missing submersible. Additionally, it stated that the French vessel L’Atalante was preparing its ROV (remote-operated vehicle) to enter the water.
The individuals who were reported missing include OceanGate‘s CEO and pilot, Stockton Rush, along with British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani tech and energy magnate Shahzada Dawood, his 19-year-old son Sulaiman, and renowned Titanic explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
The US Coast Guard was notified about the missing submersible by OceanGate eight hours after it lost contact with its mothership, the Polar Prince. OceanGate disclosed that the submersible vanished less than two hours after it had submerged on Sunday afternoon.
Unlike conventional submarines, submersibles cannot reach the ocean floor and return independently. The Titan submersible heavily relied on the Polar Prince for navigation in the deep waters.
Experts have expressed concerns that the passengers trapped inside the cramped 22-foot-long submersible may have accelerated the consumption of their 96-hour oxygen supply due to panic. Mike Tipton, the head of the extreme environments laboratory at the University of Portsmouth in the UK, explained that humans can only survive for approximately three minutes without oxygen.
As the air supply dwindles, individuals may experience restlessness, headaches, confusion, shortness of breath, blue fingertips, an increased heart rate, and eventually, loss of consciousness. Tipton emphasized that exceeding the three-minute mark without oxygen can result in brain damage and eventual death.
Furthermore, Tipton warned that if the filtration system of the submersible was damaged or ran out of power, the passengers could have also faced carbon dioxide poisoning. This grim possibility is one of the three potential outcomes that experts had predicted for the tourist group.
The US Coast Guard acknowledged that the submersible might be trapped underwater en route to the Titanic shipwreck, which lies 12,500 feet below the surface. However, they also stated that it was plausible for the Titan submersible to resurface but be unable to communicate its location due to technical difficulties.
Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick assured reporters on Tuesday that if the submersible were on the surface, they would have a high likelihood of locating it. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how long the passengers would be able to survive if adrift in the vast ocean.
The news comes one day after far-left MSNBC host Elie Mystal tweeted out his desire for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to be on the fateful expedition.