A huge 308ft rescue vessel nicknamed the "last chance" arrived with hours to spare to help in the desperate search for the missing Titanic submarine.
Rescue teams were frantically trying to find the Titan and passengers; Pakistani British-based businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Sulaiman Dawood, Brit billionaire and explorer Hamish Harding, French submersible pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet, and chief executive and founder of OceanGate Expeditions, Stockton Rush.
The Horizon Artic ship arrived at the site of Titanic wreckage after travelling 400 miles overnight across the Atlantic Ocean from St John's port on the eastern Canadian coast to help join the frantic search.
It arrived with heavy duty cables and it was reported to be the last major support vessel to arrive before the oxygen on the vessel ran out at 12.08pm, according to the US Coast Guard.
The ship, which can carry up to 60 people, left at 10.24pm on Wednesday evening from St John's port and arrived eight and half hours later at the site of the Titanic wreckage.
The Horizon Arctic set off to become the last main vessel involved in the desperate mission.
The machinery was transported to St John's airport in Newfoundland by three US Air Force cargo planes and the equipment was taken off the planes by a military loader and put onto the trucks by a forklift truck.
The Canadian research icebreaker Polar Prince, which was supporting the Titan, was conducting surface searches with help from a Canadian Boeing P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft.
The Canadian military dropped sonar buoys to listen for any possible sounds from the Titan - which led to the "banging" noise.
Three vessels arrived on-scene Wednesday morning, including The John Cabot, which has side-scanning sonar capabilities and is conducting search patterns alongside two other vessels, the Skandi Vinland and the Atlantic Merlin, the Coast Guard tweeted.
The ship is deploying remote operated submarines to try and find the Titan and rescue the five passengers on board the OceanGate Expeditions wreckage tour submarine.
Three C-17 transport planes from the US military have been used to move commercial submersible and support equipment from Buffalo, New York, to St. John’s, Newfoundland, to aid in the search, a spokesperson for US Air Mobility Command said.
In addition to an international array of ships and planes, an underwater robot had started searching in the vicinity of the Titanic and there was a push to get salvage equipment to the scene in case the sub is found.
The Canadian military said it provided a patrol aircraft and two surface ships, including one that specialises in dive medicine on Tuesday. It also dropped sonar buoys to listen for any sounds from the Titan.
An underwater robot had also started searching in the vicinity of the Titanic, and there was a push to get salvage equipment to the scene in case the submersible is found, said Jamie Frederick of the First Coast Guard District in Boston.
Two US Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft were conducting overflights, and three C-17s from US Air Mobility Command have also been used to move another commercial company’s submersible and support equipment from Buffalo, New York, to St. John’s to aid in the search.
