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15 WORLD maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 21 JUNE 2023 Rescuers racing against time to find missing passengers of Titanic wreck mission SEARCH efforts are continuing for five people missing in a deep- ocean submersible in the north- ern Atlantic Ocean, with rescuers in a race against time as the sub- mersible's oxygen levels dwindle. The Titan, which was on a mis- sion to view the wreck of the Ti- tanic, was carrying a maximum supply of 96 hours of emergency oxygen when it went underwater on Sunday morning. That means rescuers have until Thursday morning local time to find the one pilot and four passen- gers alive. US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said in television interviews on Tuesday night that rescuers were expanding their search into deeper waters. "As we continue on with this search … we've been working through the night with a broad group of partners to bring all ca- pabilities to bear looking on both the surface and now expanding to a sub-surface in the area," he said. 'They can't get out' The Titan was launched from the Polar Prince, an icebreaker formerly operated by the Canadi- an Coast Guard and since hired by OceanGate Expeditions to make annual trips to the wreck site. It lost contact with the surface about one hour and 45 minutes into what is usually a two-hour trip to reach the Titanic's wreck on the ocean floor, according to the US Coast Guard. An emergency wasn't declared until about eight hours later. The vessel's disappearance has sparked a huge search and rescue operation, with US and Canadian ships and planes swarming the ar- ea about 1,450 kilometres east of Cape Cod. Professor of Marine Engineering at the University College London, Alistair Greig, said the submersi- ble was mid-dive when the crew lost all communications. "So if there was any sort of emer- gency, they would have probably just dropped their weights, and this buoyancy would have brought them back up to the surface," he said. "But, of course, with no com- munications, then it's difficult to locate where they are." Greig said even if the vessel rose just below the water's surface, the crew would not be able to escape on their own. "They require someone to un- do the bolts from outside so they can't get out," he said. "This thing is about the size of a large transit van, about seven me- tres long, white. So it's going to be quite difficult to spot it from the air." Earlier on Tuesday, boats de- ployed sonar buoys and used ship-based sonar to listen for "any sounds that we can detect in the water column", Mauger said. Aircraft deployed over the search area included a US Air Force C-130 Hercules and a P-8 Poseidon with the ability to detect submarines underwater. The search effort, already made difficult by the tight time window, was being "complicated" by chop- py weather conditions in the area, the Coast Guard said, with low clouds potentially hindering the use of some aerial search equip- ment. Search a guessing game Greig said the vessel was likely either near the water's surface or on the ocean floor. "If it's on the bottom, much more difficult to locate it," he said. "Don't know what the topology is like, whether it's smooth or, as well, it could be in lumps or hol- lows. And there's all the other wreckage from the Titanic around there as well which will send back signals." Even if search crews are able to find the submersible on the ocean floor in time, recovering it and rescuing those on board will pres- ent its own challenges. The Titanic wreck is located on the seabed, about 3,800 metres be- low the ocean's surface. That's far deeper than the level at which underwater rescue vehicles have been used in the past to con- duct successful rescue operations. "You're not going to be able to transfer them onto another vessel at that depth," Greig said. "You're going to have to bring the whole submersible up and then take them off — get some sort of robot vessel down there to attach something to them to help bring it up and then extract them." Guinness World Records show the deepest underwater rescue ever recorded was that of Roger Chapman and Roger Mallinson, who spent 76 hours trapped in the Pisces III submersible at a depth of 480 metres in 1973. The US Navy's deepest-diving nuclear submarines are estimated to be able to travel to a depth of about 600 metres. But the navy says its specialised rescue submersibles aren't able to function below that depth. Passengers include British bil- lionaire, Pakistani father and son Those aboard the OceanGate submersible — the highlight of an expedition that costs more than $US250,000 ($364,612) per per- son — include British billionaire Hamish Harding, his stepson con- firmed. Harding, who is the chairman of an aviation company, holds three Guinness World Records, includ- ing the longest duration at full ocean depth by a crewed vessel. In March 2021, Harding and ocean explorer Victor Vescovo dived to the bottom of the Chal- lenger Deep, the deepest known point of the Earth's seabed, while in June 2022 he shot into space on Blue Origin's New Shepard rock- et. Harding posted on Facebook the day before the Titan went missing, saying he was proud to be heading to the Titanic as a "mis- sion specialist". "Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Ti- tanic in 2023," he said. "A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow. We started steaming from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada yesterday and are planning to start dive op- erations around 4am tomorrow morning. "The team on the sub has a cou- ple of legendary explorers, some of which have done over 30 dives to the RMS Titanic since the 1980s including PH Nargeolet." The wreck of the Titanic lies at a depth of about 3,800 metres Titan near the surface prior to descending