2023-06-22 14:06:49
13:54
A medical team arrives on site
A medical team is dispatched to the search area on Thursday, reports CNN. She comes to swell the ranks of the help already mobilized to try to find the Titan and save its crew.
13:37
A Canadian robot explores the bottom
The Canadian Horizon Arctic ROV (remotely operated underwater vehicle) “touched the seabed” in the search area, the coast guard said.
13:23
Theoretical end of oxygen reserves
13:05
Victor 6000 getting ready to dive
The French remote-controlled Victor 6000 underwater robot is about to dive, warn the American coast guard.
The Victor 6000 underwater robot is the only vehicle in the area capable of diving down to the wreck. It is remotely operated from the Atalante, via a cable which gives it theoretically unlimited autonomy. The robot also has a powerful lighting system that could help it locate the Titan in a completely dark environment, provided of course you know where to look.
12:42
Atalanta is on site
The French oceanographic vessel Atalante and its Victor 6000 underwater robot have arrived at the search site. The machine, operated by the French Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer), “currently uses its multibeam sounder to have a finer cartography of the landscape and allow a more efficient dive of Victor 6000”.
11:43
A joystick to guide the machine?
The composition of the Titan could surprise, especially when we know that the machine is guided using a video game controller. A former OceanGate contractor explains to CNN that it was simply a matter of saving money by using “ready-to-use” tools, given the staggering cost of building the submersible.
11:43
Oxygen supplies until 1:08 p.m.?
Specialists estimate that theoretical oxygen reserves could last until 1:08 p.m. on Thursday.
09:54
“Miracles Happen”
The rescue of the passengers of the Titan will “become almost impossible. We would need a miracle – but miracles do happen,” oceanographer and researcher David Gallo tells CNN.
09:35
“Like being stranded on the moon”
The anguish of being stuck near the wreck of the Titanic, Michael Guillen knew it well. The very first journalist to descend near the famous ship tells BFM TV. An experience that he still remembers well 20 years later, since he was stuck for an hour in the blades of the propeller of the one who was nicknamed “the Unsinkable”. A moment that was both “testing” and “scary”, remembers the one who worked for the ABC News channel. At 4,000 m depth, “there is nothing around you, nothing. It’s literally 360° of nothingness, there’s no one to save you, nothing. It’s like being stuck on the moon,” he recalls.
08:56
What operations are still possible?
As the race against time to try to find the Titan is soon coming to an end, the solutions to hope to save the five passengers are becoming scarce, in particular due to the nature of the tourist submarine, which does not have a decompression chamber allowing the French, the American, the British and the two Pakistanis to get out. A ROV (a remotely operated vehicle) could, on the other hand, bring oxygen on board. This is the preferred solution. More details can be read in our article on the subject.
07:29
Aid update
Aerial surveillance using C-130 or P3 aircraft, ships equipped with underwater robots: the means deployed by the American and Canadian armies continue to arrive at the site where the Polar Prince, the ship of which is gone the Titan submersible.
The Atlante, a French Ifremer research vessel equipped with a robot capable of diving to the wreck of the Titanic (which lies nearly 4,000 meters deep) must also arrive on site. A Canadian ship with medical personnel and a decompression chamber on board is also on its way.
07:18
“An extremely difficult moment”
“This is an extremely difficult time for the families of the crew members who disappeared on board the Titan,” said US Coast Guard captain Jamie Frederick during a press briefing in Boston.
07:07
Time is counted
Based on the 96 hours of oxygen available for five, rescuers have until 11 a.m. this Thursday to hope to find and help Titan passengers.
06:58
“Increased the chances of a positive outcome”
“I think we have increased the chances of a positive outcome,” thinks Richard Garriott, president of the American company Explorer Club. He also announces that the Magellan ROV (for remotely operated underwater vehicle) is currently on its way to the search area.
06:43
The coastguards call to “keep hope”
“We must remain optimistic and hopeful,” said US Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick during a press briefing in Boston.
At 7 p.m. (French time) on Wednesday evening, the captain declared that there was “only one day” of oxygen left for the passengers of the “Titan”, without giving a more precise timing.
06:43
Noises detected: the wreck of the Titanic complicates the task
While two robots and a sonar-equipped ship have been deployed to the area where the noises were detected, the wreckage of the Titanic complicates the task. “There is a lot of metal and different objects in the water there,” explained on CBS Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger, pointing out that Navy experts have been mobilized “to understand the science behind this noise”
06:40
Hello and welcome to this live.
We will follow together the continuation of the search for Titan, a sunken tourist submarine with five passengers on board to visit the wreck of the Titanic on Sunday evening. Passengers’ oxygen supplies will soon run out.
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