Maritime experts fear that individuals stuck in the missing submersible are at risk of freezing to death, as rescue teams continue their search against the clock with less than 50 hours of oxygen left.
According to OceanGate, as of Tuesday at lunchtime, Titan, the lost submersible, will be halfway out of oxygen. The parent company, along with the Coast Guard, will be hosting a press conference with updates at 1 pm today.
The destination of the sub was the Titanic wreckage, which lies around 12,500 feet below sea level — that's about 10 times the height of the Empire State Building.
David Gallo, a senior adviser for Strategic Initiatives, RMS Titanic, has warned they risk developing hypothermia "if the sub is still at the bottom, because in the deep ocean it is just above freezing cold."
He told CNN: "The water is very deep - two miles plus. It's like a visit to another planet, it's not what people think it is. It is a sunless, cold environment and high pressure."
The US Coast Guard said that 10,000 square miles have been searched for the missing Titanic-bound submersible as of Tuesday morning.
A Canadian P3 Aurora aircraft has arrived to help conduct sonar searches, the Coast Guard tweeted.
Two research vessels, R/V Polar Prince and R/V Deep Energy, are also continuing surface searches.
G. Michael Harris, a Titanic expedition leader, told Fox News's Jesse Watters that there was oxygen on board and CO2 scrubbers, but ultimately there was no magic solution.
"Just not feeling good about it," he said. "When we deploy it's usually a two and a half hour drop down to the wreck site itself."
"We go down 3,980 meters. We spiral down, a corkscrew action, about three degrees per second to land right basically in front of the bow of Titanic. Once we get down there we begin our grid searches and our decay and everything that goes on with Titanic."
But freezing or running out of oxygen may not be the worst of it. "Worst situation is something happened to the hull and our fear is that it imploded at around 3,200 meters," (10,000 feet) Harris explained.
The submersible's launch ship, The Polar Prince, has been continuing rescue efforts since the sub's last communication, which was about an hour and a half after the launch. The vessel was scheduled to resurface around 6:10 pm EST. When Titan didn't come up, an alert was launched and help was contacted.
It was confirmed last night that British billionaire Hamish Harding and UK-based father and son Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, were all on board the submarine-like vessel taking paying tourists to view the famous wreck, 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
It's also been widely reported that French submersible pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet, and chief executive and founder of OceanGate Expeditions, Stockton Rush, are also onboard.
Dawood's family relayed to the media that they're praying for their family members' safe return. "We are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request everyone to pray for their safety," the Dawoods said in a statement. Shahzada is the vice chairman of the Engro Corporation, and they're one of the wealthiest families in Pakistan.
Harris continued on his interview with Fox News that, "More people have been to outer-space than to this depth of the ocean. When you're diving in these situations you have to cross your T and dot your Is. You have to do everything absolutely perfect and by the book."
