Fresh hope has been raised in the bid to trace a missing Titanic submersible after banging noises were detected near the area where the vessel vanished. The US Coast Guard revealed that they have relocated their search party after "underwater noises" were heard by sonar.
Five people onboard the Titan tourist vessel have not been heard from after they went underwater on an expedition to the Titanic wreck site on Sunday morning.
They lost contact with the mothership MV Polar Prince around one hour and 45 minutes into their two-hour descent on the 22ft long single windowed sub. It is believed there remains around 24 hours of oxygen left on board the sub, reports the Mirror.
British billionaire Hamish Harding, British-based Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19; CEO of OceanGate Expeditions - the company which owns and operates the vessel - Stockton Rush and French submersible pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet were all aboard.
However, a Canadian aircraft has now detected noises in the area near where the vessel was last known to be. The find was first shared via internal e-mails sent to the heads of the Department of Homeland Security, according to CNN.
The Rolling Stone then reported that the "banging" was detected, coming in 30 minute intervals, by a Canadian search aircraft. The US outlet reported the email said: “RCC Halifax launched a P8, Poseidon, which has underwater detection capabilities from the air.
“The P8 deployed sonobuoys, which reported a contact in a position close to the distress position. The P8 heard banging sounds in the area every 30 minutes. Four hours later additional sonar was deployed and banging was still heard.”
US Coast Guard then confirmed the news, and said that they had relocated their search efforts as a result, but warned there had been no conclusive results yet.
In a tweet, they said: "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.
"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."
The Explorers Club, an international association that promotes scientific exploration and field study of which Mr Harding and Mr Nargeolet are members, said there were "signs of life".
A spokesperson said: “There is cause for hope, that based on data from the field, we understand that likely signs of life have been detected at the site.
It continued: "Members of The Explorers Club far and wide rallied today to make sure the Titanic expedition search and rescue team is fully aware of the capabilities and experience club members and affiliates are ready to prove. This extraordinary membership never ceases to amaze.
"We continue to work on approval for the Magellan ROVs to be allowed to deploy to the site as we believe they can provide invaluable assistance. Our hearts are with family and friends of fellow Explorers Club members Hamish Harding and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and the rest of the submersible crew as we await hopefully good news."
In an email sent on Tuesday afternoon, the president of the Explorers Club reportedly said the tapping might be the crew "signalling" to rescuers.
The US Coast Guard is leading a desperate search in an attempt to locate the submarine amid concerns passengers only have enough oxygen to last until around midday tomorrow, Thursday June 22.
At a press conference, held at 6pm BST on Tuesday, Coast Guard chiefs said the vessel had just 40 to 41 hours before their oxygen runs out. It is understood that King Charles has asked to kept informed of the search efforts, as Shahzada Dawood is a long-time supporter of The Prince’s Trust International and The British Asian Trust, both of which are charities founded by Charles.
At the moment, 10,000 square miles of sea has been searched during the race against time to locate the missing submersible. The rescue effort has involved planes and ships in a unified command of US Coast Guard, US Navy, Canadian Coast Guard and OceanGate expedition.
The news comes after wreck hunter David Mearns, who is a friend of Harding, said he had seen reports of "tapping" being heard in the water. He told Channel 4 News: "They’ve got sonobuoys out there; there may be some other hydrophones that the mothership, the Polar Prince, had in the water."
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