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A sonar expert believes that the “banging noises” detected by rescue crews searching for the Titan submersible that disappeared during its descent to the Titanic are likely “debris” from the 12,500-foot-deep wreckage site.
Jeff Karson, professor emeritus of earth and environmental sciences at Syracuse University, told the Daily Mail he thinks the US Coast Guard’s pursuit of the noise, which some experts believe indicates that the five-person crew is still alive as their oxygen supply dwindles, is “wishful thinking.”
The banging noises were detected by Canadian P-3 aircraft on Tuesday and continued again on Wednesday.
In response, the Coast Guard relocated its remotely operated vehicles to explore the noise, Capt. Jamie Frederick said Wednesday.
Karson said he would “not be shocked” if following the noise does not lead rescuers to OceanGate’s Titan submersible.
“One possibility is that the sounds [are] bouncing around the debris. And so it’s a more complicated echo,” he told the outlet.
“It’s just not bouncing off of one thing. It’s bouncing off a bunch of things. And it’s like, you know, dropping up a marble into a tin can. It’s rattling around and that would confuse the location,” he said.
“The banging, I hear the Coast Guard talk about it. I wonder how much of this is just wishful thinking?” he said. “Is it really banging or just some unidentified sound? I think that is a more accurate description right now.”
Karson is concerned that the sound the search-and-resume teams are chasing is coming from somewhere far away, but said they have no choice but to pursue it as “it’s the best lead right now.”
Rescuers are in a race against time as a fleet of Coast Guard ships and aircraft scour the ocean floor and surface off the coast of Newfoundland where the Titan and its crew disappeared Sunday morning.
On board are British explorer Hamish Harding, Pakistani energy and tech mogul Shanzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman, 19, famed French diver and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet and OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush.
Tourist submersible exploring Titanic wreckage disappears in Atlantic Ocean
What we know
A submersible on a pricey tourist expedition to the Titanic shipwreck in the Atlantic Ocean has vanished with likely only four days’ worth of oxygen. The US Coast Guard said the small submarine began its journey underwater with five passengers Sunday morning, and the Canadian research vessel that it was working with lost contact with the crew about an hour and 45 minutes into the dive.
It was later found that a top-secret team with the US Navy detected the implosion of the Titan submersible on Sunday, but did not stop search efforts due because the evidence was “not definitive” and a decision was made to “make every effort to save the lives on board.”
Who was on board?
The family of world explorer Hamish Harding confirmed on Facebook that he was among the five traveling in the missing submarine. Harding, a British businessman who previously paid for a space ride aboard the Blue Origin rocket last year, shared a photo of himself on Sunday signing a banner for OceanGate’s latest voyage to the shipwreck.
Also onboard were Pakistani energy and tech mogul Shanzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman, 19; famed French diver and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush.
What’s next?
“We’re doing everything we can do to locate the submersible and rescue those on board,” Rear Adm. John Mauger told reporters. “In terms of the hours, we understood that was 96 hours of emergency capability from the operator.
Coast Guard officials said they are currently focusing all their efforts on locating the sub first before deploying any vessel capable of reaching as far below as 12,500 feet where the Titanic wreck is located.
Mauger, first district commander and leader of the search-and-rescue mission, said the US was coordinating with Canada on the operation.
The debris recovered from the US Coast Guard’s Titan submersible search site early Thursday included “a landing frame and a rear cover from the submersible.”
After search efforts to recover the stranded passengers proved futile, and bits of debris from the submersible were found, it was decided that the sub imploded, which correlated with an anomaly picked up by the US Navy in the same area.
The Coast Guard later reported that all 5 passengers were confirmed dead, and rescue efforts were halted.
In a stunning twist, Rush’s wife, Wendy, is a descendant of two first-class passengers who died when the Titanic sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg.
She is the great-great-granddaughter of Isador Straus — who co-founded Macy’s — and Ida Straus, who were among the wealthiest passengers on the ship’s ill-fated maiden voyage, according to archived records obtained by the New York Times.
Survivors reported seeing Ida Straus refusing a seat on a lifeboat as crews tried to save as many women and children on board as possible.
Instead, she remained onboard with her husband of more than 40 years, according to the Times, and the two were among the more than 1,500 passengers who died.
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