BOSTON: Rescue workers raced to beat a rapidly closing oxygen window in the hunt for a missing submersible near the wreck of the Titanic, after noises detected by sonar raised hopes the five people on board are still alive.

The US Coast Guard said it had not identified whether the source of the sounds was indeed the small sub, whose passengers are estimated to have less than 20 hours of oxygen left, which will run out on Thursday morning.

“We don’t know what they are, to be frank,” Captain Jamie Frederick said of the underwater noises picked up late Tuesday by a Canadian aircraft, but added: “We have to remain optimistic and hopeful.”

Extra ships, specialised salvage equipment and US Navy experts converged on the vast search area in the North Atlantic as rescuers, who have received help from around the world, concentrated their efforts near the sounds.

“We’re searching in the area where the noises were detected and we’ll continue to do so,” Frederick told reporters in Boston.

The 21-foot (6.5-meter) tourist craft lost communication with its mothership less than two hours into its descent Sunday to see the remains of the Titanic, which sits more than two miles (nearly four kilometers) below the surface of the ocean.

The submersible, named Titan, was carrying British billionaire Hamish Harding and British-Pakistani business tycoon Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.

Members of the Dawood family have reached St John’s and are hoping the search and rescue operation is successful, Dawn learnt on Wednesday night.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2023