Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Christopher Bucktin, US Editor in St John’s, New Foundland

Titanic submarine: Last chance bid to save sub as specialist rescue vessel joins mission

A specialist rescue vessel was this morning powering its way to the trapped Titanic tourists in a last-chance effort to save the five missing submariners after underwater noises were detected overnight.

The Horizon Arctic set sail from St John’s in Newfoundland - from where the expedition left on Saturday - shortly after 12am today.

It was laden with a raft of heavy machinery and submarines that rescue officials believe give the crew of the Titan submersible their greatest chance of being found.

The crew were travelling at the Horizon Artic’s highest safe speed to join the flotilla of other vessels desperately searching for the five men who have been lost since Sunday.

The Canadian Coastguard Terry Fox being readied to head out the rescue site this morning (Chris Bucktin / Daily Mirror)

“Time may be short, but no one has given up.”

Three C-17 transport planes from the US military landed at St John’s Airport carrying commercial submersible and support equipment from Buffalo, New York.

The Artic Horizon was quickly ladened up and will take 15 hours to reach the wreck site. It is expected to arrive at 8.30am UK time tomorrow.

US Air Force planes at St John’s airport bringing in specialist equipment for the rescue (Chris Bucktin / Daily Mirror)

It gives the crew two and a half hours before the estimated oxygen in the submersible runs out around 11am.

The Horizon Arctic crew are hoping to arrive at the wreck site with a firm area to target after underwater noises were detected by a reconnaissance plane overnight.

The Coast Guard’s First District reported earlier today that a Canadian P-3 aircraft detected sounds beneath the surface in the area where crews are looking.

The search for the missing titanic tourist submarine continues (Chris Bucktin / Daily Mirror)

It has seen the surrounding waters become a focal point for rescue crews.

However, further tests, including the dropping of sonar buoys, “have yielded negative results,” the Coast Guard tweeted.

Crews are searching a massive swath of sea about 430 miles south of St John’s.

A previous OceanGate mission (PA)

The submersible and its four passengers and pilot have been unaccounted for since it lost contact with the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince during a dive Sunday morning.

Operated by OceanGate Expeditions, the 22-foot vessel was being piloted by OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush toward the world’s most famous unsinkable ship that sank in the North Atlantic.

An interior view of the Titan mission (PA)

British billionaire Hamish Harding, UK-based Shahzada Dawood, 48, a board member of the Prince’s Trust charity, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, and French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, are also trapped.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.