Search under way as Titanic tourist sub goes missing in Atlantic | History News
DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,
US-based firm OceanGate Expeditions says its vessel is subject of search and rescue operation off Canada’s Newfoundland.
A search and rescue operation is under way off the eastern coast of Canada and the United States, the US Coast Guard says after a submersible vessel used to visit the wreckage of the Titanic was reported missing.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) first reported on Monday morning that the operation was under way off the coast of Canada’s Newfoundland.
Lieutenant Jordan Hart of the US Coast Guard in Boston later told CBS News that personnel were “currently undergoing a search and rescue operation”.
A spokesperson for the Canadian Coast Guard directed Al Jazeera’s inquiries to the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Boston. The US Coast Guard did not immediately respond to phone and email requests for comment on the operation.
OceanGate Expeditions, a company based in the US state of Washington that deploys manned submersibles for deep-sea expeditions, told CBS News in a statement that its vessel was the subject of the rescue operation.
“Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families,” the company said.
OceanGate did not say how many people were onboard the missing submarine but said it was “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”.
The wreck of the Titanic lies about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. Without any cell towers in the middle of the ocean, we are relying on @Starlink to provide the communications we require throughout this year’s 2023 Titanic Expedition.
More: pic.twitter.com/wr7HeKlGjj
— OceanGate Expeditions (@OceanGateExped) June 14, 2023
OceanGate last tweeted about its 2023 Titanic Expedition on Friday, saying it had been “an incredibly busy two weeks”. On Wednesday, it also said on Twitter that its crew was relying on the Starlink satellite network to provide communications in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
“After the successful expeditions to the wreck in 2021 and 2022, OceanGate Expeditions will continue to return annually to further document the Titanic and its rate of decay,” the company says on its website.
The Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, killing an estimated 1,500 people after colliding with an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City.
The shipwreck of the ill-fated ocean liner has been explored extensively since it was first discovered in 1985 about 650km (404 miles) off the coast of Canada.
