Rescue team now has less than 24 hours to save Titanic sub passengers
The people onboard the missing Titan submersible have less than 24 hours' worth of oxygen supply.
The vessel, which is owned by OceanGate Expeditions, disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday, while taking tourists out to visit the wreckage of the Titanic. You can take a look inside the submersible here:
Five people have been confirmed onboard: British billionaire Hamish Harding; French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet; Shahzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman; and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.
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The expedition package costs $250,000 per person, and those taking part must sign a waiver first.
In a statement released yesterday (Tuesday June 20), the company said: “For some time, we have been unable to establish communications with one of our submersible exploration vehicles which is currently visiting the wreck site of the Titanic.
“Our entire focus is on the wellbeing of the crew and every step possible is being taken to bring the five crew members back safely.
“We are deeply grateful for the urgent and extensive assistance we are receiving from multiple government agencies and deep-sea companies as we seek to reestablish contact with the submersible.
“We pray for the safe return of the crew and passengers, and we will provide updates as they are available.”
During a press conference earlier this week, Captain Jamie Frederick of the US Coast Guard First District said that according to data from OceanGate, the Titan vessel had around 96 hours of oxygen supply when it vanished.
Speaking yesterday (20 June), he confirmed that more than half of this would have been used up by Tuesday.
He said: "We know from the data we were using, the starting point was 96 hours. We know at this point we're approximately 40 to 41 hours left."
That means that the crew’s oxygen supply will last them through until around 6am EDT (11am BST) tomorrow.
Former FBI dive team leader Bobby Chacon warned Fox News that those on board could be using more oxygen than the estimates suggest.
He said: "The first thing I would do is caution people to not put a lot of faith in this '40 hours left.' Those calculations are estimates based on normal working conditions.
“If a person is injured, or they're stressed, or they're panicking, their air consumption increases.
"So those numbers of available hours go down. So if people are injured on that vessel, if they're panicked on that vessel, they're going to use more oxygen or more air more quickly."
Claire Reid