Will the Titan be found? Day five of the missing vessel as rescue efforts are still underway

Rescue teams are racing against the clock to find the tourist submersible carrying five people that went missing during a dive into the wreck of the Titanic. On Sunday 18 June, the vessel lost contact just one hour and 45 minutes into its two-hour dive to the wreckage. 

The sub’s air supply was expected to run out on Thursday (22 June) at around 11am BST. But with no location of the Titan submersible, just how are rescuers trying to find the vessel and what are the challenges to find it? Here is what you need to know. 

Where is the search focused? 

The crew of the Titan lost contact with its surface vessel, the Polar Price, at around an hour and 45 minutes after going to dive.

The Titanic's wreckage is located 700km (435 miles) south of St John's Newfoundland, and around 4km deep. Around a dozen ships are on the way to help with a rescue mission. However, they are facing difficulties with changing weather and poor visibility. The rescue mission, which is being run from Boston, Massachusetts, has seen a flurry of US and Canadian agencies, navies and commercial deep-sea firms to help with the rescue mission. 

The Polar Prince has been joined by seven ships to search an area of over 25,000 sq km - and have the aid of military planes and sonar buoys. Some ships are unmanned and will be used to navigate the sea floor. 

The US Coast Guard said a Canadian aircraft had detected "underwater noises" several times on Tuesday (20 June) night and on Wednesday (21 June) morning but it did not confirm reports of underwater "banging sounds" in 30-minute intervals.

Will they find the Titan? 

Former Rear Admiral Chris Parry has said the “timescale” of the missing submersible is “very concerning” after news that there has been no sign of life from the vessel for the last seven hours.

The ex-British Navy officer told Sky News the OceanGate Expeditions vessel could have experienced a “catastrophic failure” or even have become caught in the debris of the site.

He said: "It’s very concerning indeed, having listened to the timescale it’s very worrying.” He went on to describe the possible “optimistic” and “catastrophic” circumstances that may have taken place.

He said: "There’s an optimistic option and that’s that it’s either lost an umbilical communication with the surface or indeed there’s been a malfunction and the submarine continues to operate but obviously out of contact with its mother ship.” 

“Obviously on the other end of the scale, there could have been an accident. It could have become entangled in the wreckage of the Titanic. It could indeed have had a catastrophic failure. The answer is we don’t know just yet. What we do know of course is the wreck site is off the grand banks, it’s a long way from anywhere and the nearest rescue facility will be on the East Coast of the United States.”

To CBS News, Oceangate said that it is “exploring and mobilising all options to bring the crew back safely. Our entire focus is on the crew members in the submersible and their families." It added that it is “deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible”.