The vessel, operated by Ocean Gate Expeditionsbegan its descent on Sunday morning and lost contact with the surface less than two hours later, the United States Coast Guard said on Twitter, the AFP agency reported.
The US Coast Guard said in a statement that one of its planes was “Searching for five people after the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince lost contact with its submersible during a dive approximately 900 miles (1,450 kilometers) east of Cape Cod.”
The Canadian Coast Guard said it is also participating in the search effort with a fixed-wing aircraft and a ship dispatched to the search area.
The first report was provided by the BBC, specifying that the alarm was triggered and the search began based on a dialogue held with spokesmen for the Boston Coast Guard, according to the ANSA agency.
The small submarine is part of a fleet of submersible vehicles used by private companies to take small groups of tourists to the depths of the ocean to visit the seabed, where the remains of the famous ocean liner lie, 3,800 meters below sea level. sea.
The word of the company that carried out the expedition
On its website, OceanGate Expedition claimed that a diving expedition to the Titanic site was “currently underway”. The company said it uses a submersible called the Titan for its dives to a maximum depth of 4,000 meters (13,100 feet) and has a 96-hour autonomy for a five-person crew.
“Our entire focus is on the submersible crew members and their families,” OceanGate stressed, adding that it was “deeply grateful for the extensive assistance we have received from various government agencies and deep-sea companies in our efforts to re-establish contact with the submersible.”
In its statement, OceanGate said it was “deeply grateful for the extensive assistance we have received from various government agencies and deep-sea companies in our efforts to re-establish contact with the submersible.”
The search scene is near the site where the RMS Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, about 600 kilometers southeast of Newfoundland.
The sinking of the Titanic
The Titanic was cataloged more than a century ago with the fame of a ship “unsinkable”, but it sank with many of its passengers in 1912 after hitting an iceberg, on the first voyage between England and North Americain a maritime disaster that remained in the annals and was even told by books and movies.
Of the 2,224 passengers and crew on board, almost 1,500 died.
The remains of the liner were discovered in 1985, 650 kilometers from the Canadian coast, and at a depth of 4,000 meters in international waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Since then, treasure hunters and tourists have visited the area.
Source: Ambito
