Oxygen on the missing Titanic tourist submersible was expected to run out on Thursday morning - leaving many wondering if the US Coast Guard will cease their search and rescue efforts.
Typically, when a person, or people, are lost at sea the Coast Guard appoints a mission coordinator to run a search and rescue operation. However, when there is no chance that person is alive or able to be retrieved they will call off the mission.
At the moment, the US Coast Guard is still conducting its search and rescue operation for the five people aboard a 22-foot-long submersible.
“We continue to keep the crew members and the families in our thoughts as we proceed with this search and rescue while we’re cognisant of the time and we’ve factored in a lot of data and information into the search,” Rear Admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard told Sky News.
He added: “This is still an active search and rescue at this point and we’re using the equipment that we have on the bottom right now, the remote operated vehicles (ROVs) to expand our search capability, and then also to provide rescue capability as well.”
Additional vessels equipped with ROVS arrived on Thursday morning in the remote part of the North Atlantic Ocean, where the submersible was last seen.
The additional vessels include the French research vessel L’Atalante, which is equipped with an ROV, and the Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic also equipped with an ROV.
The ROVs will search the sea floor for any sign of the submersible.
Bahamanian research vessel 'Deep Energy' on site during the ongoing search for the 21-foot submersible Titan, in Boston— (US Coast Guard.EPA)
Currently aboard the Titan are OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his teenage son Suleman Dawood.
The five went missing on Sunday (18 June) while on an expedition to view the Titanic wreckage.
The vessel was equipped with 96 hours of emergency oxygen, which the US Coast Guard estimated would run out by Thursday morning.
In a press conference on Wednesday (21 June), Captain Jamie Frederick of the US Coast Guard expressed hope for the people aboard the Titan as well as their families.
Mr Frederick reminded people that the oxygen limit is just one of many factors contributing to the search and rescue operation.
The Coast Guard is expected to give more updates in a press conference on Thursday.
