Aid vessel for Titanic-bound submersible search leaves Buffalo airport
By The Citizen on June 20, 2023
CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WIVB) – Three C-17 military aircraft were set to take off from the Buffalo Niagara International Airport on Tuesday, with one carrying a submersible capable of diving 6,000 meters in an effort to find a vessel that went missing Sunday morning near the site of the Titanic sinking.
The submersible coming from Western New York to help in the search was made by Pelagic Research Services, a company with offices in East Aurora. They’ve collaborated with entities like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, among others.
Titan, the missing submersible, lost contact with its support vessel about an hour and 45 minutes after submerging into the northern Atlantic Ocean, the U.S. Coast Guard said. Five people were onboard.
The people on board include British businessman and world-record holding adventurer Hamish Harding; Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet, who has made multiple trips to the wreck; and businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman. OceanGate CEO and founder Stockton Rush is also aboard.
FILE – Submersible pilot Randy Holt, right, communicates with the support boat as he and Stockton Rush, left, CEO and co-founder of OceanGate, dive in the company’s submersible, “Antipodes,” about three miles off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, June 28, 2013. Rescuers in a remote area of the Atlantic Ocean are currently racing against time to find a missing submersible before the oxygen supply runs out for five people, including Stockton, who were on a mission to document the wreckage of the Titanic. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
In the water, the plan for Titan and its crew was to assess the Titanic wreck site, which is nearly two and a half miles below the surface of the water.
According to an Associated Press report, Canada’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Nova Scotia says Titan was reported overdue Sunday night more than 400 miles south of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Rescuers were racing against the clock because the oxygen supply could run out by approximately 6 a.m. Thursday.
Despite an international rescue effort, U.S. Coast Guard officials said the search covering 10,000 square miles (26,000 square kilometers) had turned up no signs of the lost sub known as the Titan, but they planned to continue looking.
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