The U.S. Coast Guard admiral leading the search for the Titan submersible has said that underwater noises detected Tuesday are “a target”, according to Yahoo News.
Rear Admiral John Mauger confirmed to CBS Mornings Wednesday that an aircraft with sonar buoys detected noise in the water yesterday in the search for Titan, which is carrying five passengers.
“It’s a target, it’s a focus for us to look at,” Mauger told host Gayle King about the search near the site of the Titanic, though he added: “We don’t know the source of that noise.”
Mauger went on to say that the Coast Guard has shared its data with the U.S. Navy so they can “classify” the noise. He added that with “lots of metal and objects” at the remote site, it is “important to engage navy experts who understand the science behind the noises.”
The U.S. Coast Guard is now prioritizing two remotely operated vehicles (ROV) in the water and another search vehicle on the water’s surface to see if they can locate where the noises have come from.
The Titan sub first went missing on June 18, according to the First Coast Guard District’s official Twitter account.
“This is an incredibly complex case,” Mauger replied when asked if he was optimistic about the rescue mission.
“As long as there is an opportunity for survival, we will continue to work and bring every resource to bear on the search,” he added.
Mauger also confirmed that authorities are deploying more vessels and ROVs in the search and that aircraft will continue to fly in the air above the water’s surface.
According to BBC News, the sub’s air supply is expected to run out Thursday, June 22, at around 6:00 a.m. EST. The sub had about 96 hours of oxygen onboard when its dive began, officials said, according to CBS.
Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick said during a news conference on Tuesday afternoon that the vessel had “about 40 hours of breathable air left” based on the sub’s original 96 hours of available oxygen for the people onboard.
The First Coast Guard District’s official Twitter account shared in a tweet on Wednesday, “Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater noises in the search area. As a result, ROV operations were relocated in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises. Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue.”
They added in a second tweet, “Additionally, the data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our U.S. Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans.”
Aboard the sub is OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush, who was piloting the voyage; British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood; and British billionaire Hamish Harding. French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet was also aboard the sub, according to the New York Times and the BBC.
Shahzada and Suleman were both “on a journey to visit the remnants of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean” when the vessel went missing, their family said in a statement to the BBC. “As of now, contact has been lost with their submersible craft and there is limited information available.”
According to BBC News, contact with Titan was lost on Sunday as it made a 3,800m descent to the famous wreck.