Titanic tourist submarine missing LIVE: Parents of Pakistani dad and son 'grateful' to rescuers

OceanGate's Titan submersible went missing along with the five people inside on Sunday and the subsequent rescue attempts spanned over four days.

The operation, which ended in the revelation that the vessel had imploded, will likely have run up a massive bill.

Find out what it all cost in this article from MailOnline - and whether OceanGate themselves be responsible for paying.

This is the moment the co-founder of OceanGate learned that debris from the Titan submersible had been discovered by rescue crews during a TV interview.

Guillermo Sohnlein, who founded OceanGate with Stockton Rush in 2009, was speaking to a BBC journalist when he was told that some pieces had been found on the ocean floor in the search for the missing submersible.

'I'm sorry, some what has been found?' a shocked Mr Sohnlein quickly asked before the journalist said all he knew at this stage was that debris had been found.

Read the full story and watch the video on MailOnline here:

A Las Vegas financier turned down cheap seats on the Titan's doomed trip after raising safety concerns – but was fobbed off by the company boss who believed it 'was safer than crossing the street', MailOnline can reveal today.

Jay Bloom has shared texts between himself and OceanGate chief executive Stockton Rush showing he and his son were offered a 'last minute price' of $150,000 a head (£120,000) – a discount on the usual $250,000 (£195,000) fee.

Read the full story on MailOnline here:

The Titanic movie has soared into the top ten on Amazon Prime as viewers were reminded of James Cameron's epic by the unfolding submarine tragedy.

The streaming giant saw the 1997 movie appear in the top ten of the most watched movies on the platform in the US, according to data from movie analytics site FlixPatrol.

The movie about the ill-fated journey of the real-life vessel RMS Titanic which sunk in the North Atlantic Ocean in 1912 has gained popularity among viewers after the tragic implosion of the Titan submersible on the way to view the ship wreck,

Read the full story on MailOnline here:

The University of Strathclyde has paid tribute to student Suleman Dawood, who died on board the Titan submersible.

The university said: 'The staff and students of Strathclyde have been shocked and profoundly saddened by the death of Suleman Dawood and his father in this tragic incident.

'The entire university community offers our deepest condolences to the Dawood family and all of those affected by this terrible accident.

'Our student wellbeing team is on hand to offer appropriate support to Suleman's Strathclyde classmates and the wider community at this difficult time.'

A marine who turned down a trip on the Titan submersible that tragically 'imploded' in the Atlantic Ocean claims it did so between 4,000 and 5,000 feet - saying that a carbon fiber hull has never been successful at extreme depths.

OceanGate, the company that built the vessel, offered Robert Mester a voyage onboard the Titan's predecessor Antipodes and later on Titan itself, but he says he turned it down after sighting its 'off-the-shelf' equipment.

Mr Mester, a former marine and deepwater salvage expert based in Washington State, said none of the equipment he saw inside was up to the task of reaching the wreck of the Titanic - which was where Titan was headed when it vanished on Sunday.

Read the full story on MailOnline:

Chairman of the US-based Manned Underwater Vehicles Committee, William Kohnen, said the implosion of the Titan submersible was likely caused by 'instability'.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Kohnen said: 'Clearly, something disturbed the pressure hull.

'If you've ever held a balloon and it just pops, if you just hold it lightly... something happened. An implosion is just a reverse explosion, so it exploded inwards.'

Earlier in the programme, Guillermo Sohnlein, co-founder of OceanGate Expeditions, was asked about the potential cause of the implosion.

He said: 'Anyone who operates in that depth of the ocean, whether it is human-rated submersibles or robotic submersibles, knows the risks of operating under such pressure and that at any given moment, on any mission, with any vessel, you run the risk of this kind of implosion.'

William Kohnen, chairman of the Manned Underwater Vehicles Committee, said the regulations for building submersible vessels were 'written in blood'.

Mr Kohnen's organisation, based in Los Angeles in the US, raised safety concerns in 2018 about OceanGate's development of Titan.

He suggested the company was 'not willing to undergo the standard certification process which we all do in the submarine industry' via a third party 'double check' system.

The committee warned at the time that the development decisions could have 'negative outcomes from minor to catastrophic that could have serious consequences'.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Kohnen said: 'We're only smart because we remember what we wrote and what we did wrong last time.

'The rules are written in blood - it is in there because it caused trouble before, and to say: 'Well I think we're just going to ignore that and go on our own way,' suggests there might be a bit of input of wisdom that this might not be the best decision.'

It comes after Guillermo Sohnlein, co-founder of OceanGate Expeditions, told the same programme that the Titan had undergone 14 years of 'rigorous' and 'robust' checks during development.

Rescuers have found 'five major' parts of the destroyed Titan submersible which suffered a 'catastrophic implosion' 1,600ft from the bow of the Titanic, killing all five onboard.

A remotely-operated vehicle deployed by the Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic found a debris field on the ocean floor which included parts of the submersible's tail cone and landing frame.

Authorities said they later learned that the pieces found also included the front and back ends of its pressure hull, which is where the porthole window one of the doomed passengers would have been looking out of when the vessel imploded.

Read the full story on MailOnline here:

Guillermo Sohnlein, the co-founder of Titan's parent company OceanGate Expeditions, said the best way to remember those who lost their lives during the implosion is to find out what went wrong and learn from it.

When asked about whether the incident was a setback, he told Times Radio: 'That's also something that Mr (James) Cameron talked about, which I think even Stockton (Rush) would agree with, is that one of the risks that the community takes every time it operates is that if there is some sort of catastrophic failure, the general public will backlash against the entire community and basically say that it shouldn't occur.

'But, just like with space exploration, the best way to preserve the memories and the legacies of these five explorers is to conduct an investigation, find out what went wrong, take lessons learned and then move forward.'

Co-founder of Titan's parent company, OceanGate Expeditions, Guillermo Sohnlein, insisted his goal is not to conduct 'joyrides' down to the wreck of the Titanic.

He told Times Radio: 'That would be a great question for Mr (James) Cameron as he's been down there 30 times and I'm sure, not to put words in his mouth, he would probably say the same thing that I would and what Stockton (Rush) would, is that the intent of all of these missions is not to conduct joyrides down to this wreck.

'Everyone who goes down there has extreme reverence for the wreck as a grave site and, if anything, everyone who goes down there is going there to preserve the memories and to document the grave site itself.'

He continued: 'The ocean's a massive, massive environment.

'Stockton and I used to commiserate about the fact as explorers it provides a fertile ground for exploration because you could drop a sub almost anywhere in the ocean and you're almost assured of being the first humans to ever set eyes on it.

'The Titanic itself has a kind of mystical kind of draw to it because of the reverence with which everyone has viewed that wreck over the last century since it sank.'

Guillermo Sohnlein, co-founder of OceanGate Expeditions, the parent company of the Titan submersible, explained it is 'tricky to navigate' the current regulations on submersibles.

He told Times Radio: 'It's too early to tell, there's data that's going to have to be collected over the coming days, weeks and months, and I'm sure the team will work with whoever is conducting the investigations to cooperate and provide as much information as possible.

'At that point, we'll be in a better position to tell (what went wrong).'

When asked about the regulations surrounding submersibles, he said: 'There are regulations in place but as you can imagine there aren't many subs that go that deep, so the regulations are pretty sparse and many of them are antiquated and designed for specific instances.

'It's tricky to navigate those regulatory schemes.'

When asked about the safety of the Titan submersible, former Royal Navy submarine captain Ryan Ramsey explained that lessons need to be learned and questions need to be answered.

He said: 'That's the question that needs to be answered. Most submersibles and all submarines go through a stringent safety process.

'Every time they come back in and every time before they go to sea they do safety checks, check the safety of the hull, state of the hull openings, everything.

'What's apparent here is they didn't have to follow the same regulation, and therefore didn't follow the same regulation. I think that will be where a big focus is.

'That doesn't mean blame, that's not what we should be doing, what we should be doing is what's called adjust culture, where we work out lessons learned and implement them going forward.'

Former Royal Navy submarine captain Ryan Ramsey said he thinks the five people onboard the submersible will have put the possible outcome of implosion to the back of their minds after the vessel had been on a number of trips to the Titanic wreckage already.

He said: 'I don't think they will have gone down there thinking it was a possible outcome.

'The submariners, for example, we all consider that and then you put it aside because you're professional submariners and you go and do it, but you always know that it's a possibility that something goes wrong.

'You all go down together, do your work, and come back, or you don't come back at all. Everybody knows that and that's what they do when they join.

'I doubt very much that any of them expected this outcome and I suspect they would have considered briefly but put it to the back of their minds because three trips had already been done down to the Titanic by that submersible.'

Former Royal Navy submarine captain Ryan Ramsey has explained the possible reasons for the Titan submersible to implode on its descent to the Titanic wreckage.

He said: 'I think I said in one of my early interviews that there were probably two outcomes for this which is one, it's lost communications and gone down to the bottom, and it's stuck on the bottom.

'The other one is that it lost communications and then suffered a catastrophic failure and imploded, which is what looks to be what happened. I think either one of two things has happened.

'Either the hatch with the 17 bolts they used to seal them in has had a failure, which has then caused the hull to collapse at pressure because there's huge amounts of pressure, even halfway down, or the pressure hull itself had a defect in it when they sailed and that's fractured from the pressure, and caused the same result.

'The only positive out of it is that it was instantaneous and they didn't know anything.'

This is the Daily Mail's front page today, which pictures the five people on board the Titan sub who have died.

The US Coast Guard will continue searching near the Titanic for more clues about what happened to the Titan.

Officials say there isn't a timeframe for when they will call off the massive international search.

Rear Admiral John Mauger, of the First Coast Guard District,said that the prospect of finding or recovering remains was unknown.

The victims are: Oceangate chief executive and Titan pilot Stockton Rush; two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood; British adventurer Hamish Harding; and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

The vessel suffered a catastrophic implosion, killing all five aboard, sometime this week after it submerged Sunday morning. It's not clear exactly when or where the implosion occurred.

But a senior military official said yesterday that a US Navy acoustic system detected an 'anomaly' on Sunday that was likely the Titan's fatal implosion.

The Coast Guard announced that debris from the submersible had been found and the end of rescue efforts yesterday, bringing a tragic close to a saga that included an urgent around-the-clock search and a worldwide vigil for the missing vessel.

'The debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber,' Rear Admiral John Mauger, of the First Coast Guard District, said in a news conference yesterday.

A deep-sea robot discovered the debris, near the Titanic shipwreck, that authorities say came from the submersible.

The senior military official said that the Navy went back and analysed its acoustic data after the Titan was reported missing.

That anomaly was 'consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general vicinity of where the Titan submersible was operating when communications were lost,' the official said.

The Navy passed on the information to the Coast Guard, which continued its search because the Navy did not consider the data to be definitive.

The craft submerged on Sunday morning, and its support vessel lost contact with it about an hour and 45 minutes later, according to the Coast Guard.

The vessel was reported overdue about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John's, Newfoundland, according to Canada's Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The Titan was launched from an icebreaker that was hired by OceanGate and formerly operated by the Canadian Coast Guard.

The ship has ferried dozens of people and the submersible craft to the North Atlantic wreck site, where the Titan has made multiple dives.

The desperate search to find the missing Titan submersible has now turned into a recovery effort after officials announced that the vessel imploded sometime this week, killing all five aboard, near the Titanic shipwreck.

Deep-sea robots will continue to search the sea floor for clues about what happened deep in the North Atlantic.

The families of Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman, and Hamish Harding have paid tribute after they died in the Titan submersible's catastrophic implosion.

The US Coast Guard confirmed the tail cone of the deep-sea vessel was discovered around 1,600ft from the bow of the Titanic wreckage during a press conference in Boston.

Rear Admiral John Mauger said further debris was also found, in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, that was 'consistent with a catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber'.

Undersea expert Paul Hankin said five major pieces of debris helped to identify it as from the Titan submersible - including the vessel's nose cone and the front end bell of the pressure hull.

Titanic director and submersible expert James Cameron said he predicted Titan's implosion before the debris from the missing submersible was found, calling the search a 'prolonged nightmarish charade'.

Mr Cameron, who has visited the world's most famous seawreck 30 times, said the tragedy this week has parallels with the the Titanic disaster, where the captain repeatedly ignored warnings about an incoming iceberg but carried on at top speed.

The Titanic Five were killed instantly when the submersible suffered a 'catastrophic implosion' just 1,600ft from the bow of the wrecked ocean liner, the US Coast Guard announced yesterday. A remote operated submarine from a Canadian ship found debris on the ocean floor. 

James Cameron was told within 24 hours of the Titanic sub disappearing that it had been heard to implode, and 'watched over the ensuing days this whole sort of everybody-running-around-with-their-hair-on-fire search, knowing full well that it was futile.'

The film director and deep sea expert, who has made over 30 dives down to the Titanic wreckage, said he was told on Monday that the noise of a likely implosion had been registered by underwater acoustic devices. 

'I tracked down some intel that was probably of a military origin, although it could have been research - because there are hydrophones all over the Atlantic - and got confirmation that there was loud noise consistent with an implosion,' he told CNN. 

ADVERTISEMENT

The film director and deep sea expert, who has made over 30 dives down to the Titanic wreckage, said he was told on Monday that the noise of a likely implosion had been registered by underwater acoustic devices. 

'I tracked down some intel that was probably of a military origin, although it could have been research - because there are hydrophones all over the Atlantic - and got confirmation that there was loud noise consistent with an implosion,' he told CNN. 

A British-Pakistani businessman who is among the 'Titanic Five' on the missing tourist submersible survived a terrifying plane journey, which passengers thought would cost them their lives.

Shahzada Dawood, 48, is trapped on board the sub with his son Suleman, 19.

His wife, Christine, a psychologist and life coach, wrote a blog post in January 2019 and unearthed by The Daily Beast describing a horrific flight she and her husband once endured.

The family of the French Titanic expert who died in the OceanGate disaster has paid tribute to life's work, remembering fondly his sense of humor and 'his big heart'.

On Thursday, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, was confirmed to have died in the tragedy, alongside the CEO of OceanGate, Stockton Rush, 61; British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, 58; and Pakistani father and son Shahzada Dawood, 48; and Suleman Dawood, 19. 

Nargeolet - known universally as PH - was part of the first human expedition to visit the Titanic's wreck in 1987, and had visited the site at least 35 times.

The U.S. Navy heard the likely sound of the Titanic tourist submersible imploding shortly after it was reported missing, according to a report - and yet still a massive rescue effort was launched, and the families kept on edge.

'The U.S. Navy conducted an analysis of acoustic data and detected an anomaly consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general vicinity of where the Titan submersible was operating when communications were lost,' a senior U.S. Navy official told The Wall Street Journal in a statement. 

'While not definitive, this information was immediately shared with the Incident Commander to assist with the ongoing search and rescue mission.' 

The Titanic Five have been confirmed dead by the US Coast Guard and now the attention of the world is turning to the potential recovery of the wreck of the Titan submersible and the victims. 

The 21ft Titan lost contact with its mother ship Sunday as it descended roughly 12,500 feet toward the ocean floor - where pieces of the vessel were found Thursday by a remote-operated rescue submarine near the wreck of the liner.

However, the likely Pounds Per Square-Inch or PSI - exerted by the water pressure at those depths make a recovery very unlikely.

The university student who was killed in the tragic Titanic submarine 'implosion' was 'terrified' about the trip and only joined the crew to please his dad for Father's Day, his heartbroken aunt has revealed.

Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, 19, were two of the five victims killed instantly when the OceanGate submersible suffered a 'catastrophic implosion' just 1,600ft from the bow of the Titanic, according to the US Coast Guard.

Tragically, Azmeh Dawood - the older sister of Mr Dawood, who is vice chairman of Engro Corporation - told NBC News that her nephew 'wasn't very up for it' but felt compelled to please his father, who was passionate about the 1912 shipwreck.

'I am thinking of Suleman, who is 19, in there, just perhaps gasping for breath ... It's been crippling, to be honest,' she said from her home in Amsterdam.

Now that the five aboard the Titan submersible are confirmed dead, DailyMail.com's MAUREEN CALLAHAN writes that we should honor their memory:

'Today, for all the ghoulish vitriol online directed at these rich passengers, and the harsh judgements leveled at this kind of ‘tourism’ to a sunken mass grave, a greater force is on display here: Our better nature. The mobilization of good and great people to rush toward disaster, despite the hubris that perhaps caused this catastrophe.

The blame, the investigations, the lawsuits and the consequences — all that will come later.

The idea that five lives matter this much should be, for now, more than enough.

Because something like this will happen again. And whoever may suffer such terror will know that, yes, a wildly disproportionate response is likely to follow, that every possible resource will likely be deployed, that the best of our herd instinct is a mighty thing.'

Five 'major pieces' of debris from the Titan submersible have been recovered, the US Coast Guard said.

They include part of the pressure chamber, the nose cone, the front-end bell and the aft-end bell, they said Thursday.

A remotely operated vehicle (ROV) found debris fields on the Atlantic Ocean sea floor around 1,600ft from the bow of the Titanic.

Undersea expert Paul Hankin said: 'We found five different major pieces of debris that told us that it was the remains of the Titan.

'The initial thing we found was the nose cone which was outside of the pressure hull. We then found a large debris field.

'Within that large debris field we found the front-end bell of the pressure hull. That was the first indication that there was a catastrophic event.

'Shortly thereafter we found a second smaller debris field. Within that debris field we found the other end of the pressure hull – the aft end bell – which basically comprises the totality of that pressure vessel.

'We continue to map out the debris field, and as the admiral said, we will do the best we can to fully map out what's down there.'

A remotely operated vehicle (ROV) found debris fields on the North Atlantic Ocean sea floor around 1,600ft from the bow of the Titanic on Thursday morning.

Rear Admiral John Mauger, of the US Coast Guard, said the debris is 'consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel'.

The Titanic Five were killed instantly, the US Coast Guard announced on Thursday.

The Explorers Club President Richard Garriott de Cayeux said his heart is broken over the tragic news that five people on the Titan submersible are believed to be dead after a 'catastrophic implosion'.

'Our friends and fellow Explorers Club members Hamish Harding and Paul-Henri Nargeolet are lost, along with Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, while trying to reach the RMS Titanic,' he said in a statement.

'Hamish Harding is a dear friend to me personally and to The Explorers Club. He holds several world records and has continued to push dragons off maps both in person and through supporting expeditions and worthy causes. Paul-Henri was elected to the Club in 2001 and was one of the foremost experts on submersible expeditions to the Titanic,' Garriott de Cayeux said.

He went on to say that  Harding and Nargeolet were 'drawn to explore' to try to advance science and 'for the betterment of mankind.'

'While we did not know Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman personally, their desire to explore as a family would have led them to our doorstep at some point in their futures, where we would have welcomed them,' he said.

Filmmaker James Cameron, who directed the movie Titanic, has broken his silence on the devastating Titan submarine implosion that was found 200 meters (656 feet) from the bow of the iconic wreckage.

Cameron said that the 'catastrophic implosion' of OceanGate's Titan sub that killed five men reminds him of the 1912 disaster.

Speaking to ABC News he said: 'I'm struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship and yet he steamed at full speed into an ice field.'

It is the first time the director and self-confessed 'submersible enthusiast', has spoken publicly about the tragedy.

His comments come after OceanGate confirmed that all five passengers on the sub died 'instantly' in the implosion.

The Coast Guard said there does not appear to be a connection between the banging sounds detected this week and the debris from the Titan submersible found on the ocean floor.

But Commander Mauger added that he would check with experts.

'Again, this was a catastrophic implosion of the vessel, which would have generated a significant broadband sound down there that the sonar buoys would have picked up,' he said.

Search and rescue efforts say the five men on the sub likely died on Sunday - before military planes using sonar buoys detected what they thought could have been SOS 'banging' sounds in the water.

A glimmer of hope came yesterday when the consistent 'banging' noises had been detected by P-3 aircraft, but the search teams were unable to find the source of the sound, or confirm that they were the SOS signals the world had hoped for.

The debris from the Titan submersible was found on the ocean floor - (200 meters) 656 feet from the bow of the Titanic.

The vessel was carrying five men who had paid $250,000 to see the wreckage of the famous ship that sank in 1912. 

The Titan submersible vanished shortly after it launched on Sunday. It was found days later - about 12,500 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.

The location of the sub was in an area approximately 1,600 feet from the wreck of the Titanic, without any Titanic debris, an expert, A tail cone was found first. 

'Again, 200 plus meters (656 feet) from the bow, and consistent with the location of last communication for an implosion in the water column. And the size of the debris field is consistent with that implosion in the water column,' they said.  

The bodies of the five Titanic sub passengers may never be recovered from the 'unforgiving' ocean where they perished, the US Coast Guard announced grimly today.

But the search and recovery will continue for now. 

This afternoon, Rear Admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard confirmed the 'worst case scenario' that the men - three tourists and two crew - died in a 'catastrophic implosion'.

Mauger said the area where the debris was found is an unforgiving area to search, but added that they will continue.

'This is a incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor,' said.

'And the debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel, and so we'll continue to work and continue to search the area down there, but I don't have an answer for prospects at this time.'

US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said: 'The debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber. Upon this determination we immediately notified the families.

'On behalf of the Coast Guard and the entire unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families.'

An ROV was sent down to the remote area of the ocean floor where it found the tail cone of the Titan about 1600 feet from the bow of the Titanic.

More debris was found nearby. It's in an area where there is no Titanic wreckage and the ocean floor is smooth.

'This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there. The debris is consistent of a catastrophic implosion of the vessel.. we'll continue to work and search the area down there - but I don't have an answer for prospects at this time.'

It is impossible to know when the sub imploded, Mauger added, though none of the sonar buoys that have been in the water since Monday have detected an implosion sound. 

OceanGate Expeditions confirmed the deaths of the five men on board the Titan submersible after parts of the vessel were discovered today on the ocean floor 500 meters from the bow of the famous ship they died trying to see.

'We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost,' the company said in a statement.

'These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans,' according to the statement. 

'Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.'

Fans of The Simpsons say the iconic show has once again predicted the future after an episode aired in 2006 appears to show a submarine close to the Titanic.

Many have now pointed out that the episode, produced by Mike Reiss, has uncanny comparisons to the missing Titan submarine – as the Coast Guard confirmed that debris has been found in the area it vanished.

Reiss himself took a trip in the missing OceanGate sub, long after the episode was created and aired.

Season 17's 10th episode, titled 'Homer's Paternity Coot,' shows Homer Simpson reconnecting with his long-lost father Mason Fairbanks, who salvages lost treasures from the sea.

It is not the first time the iconic animation has seemingly predicted historical events before they even happened – including Donald Trump's 2024 presidential run and the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

The landing frame and rear cover of the missing Titan submersible have been discovered on the ocean floor, according to experts involved in the search.

This points to the vessel suffering a 'catastrophic implosion' which means the sub suffered a crack and imploded, killing all five men on board instantly.

The US Coast Guard have yet to confirm what was found, but Richard Garriott, President of the Explorers' Club, tells DailyMail.com his understanding from the teams involved in the search is that those items were found.

'A debris field implies there's a break up of the submersible and at that depth, because we know that they lost communications at around 3,300m… so that really indicates what is the worst case scenario which is a catastrophic failure, an implosion.

'The only saving grace is that it would have been immediate, literally in milliseconds and the men would have no idea what was happening,' David Mearns, a friend of two of the men on board, said during an appearance on Sky News in the UK this evening. He added: 'My worst fears have now been realized.'

A press conference has been scheduled for 3pm EST where the Coast Guard said it would discuss the 'findings.'

A debris field on the ocean floor has been discovered in the search for the missing Titanic submersible, the US Coast Guard dramatically announced today.

Officials said the field had been found by Odysseus 6k, a remote operated vehicle (ROV) deployed by the Canadian vessel, the Horizon Arctic, that can dive 20,000ft underwater.

The Coast Guard is yet to confirm whether the debris is that of the missing, 21ft vessel. A press conference has been scheduled for 3pm EST (10pm BST) where the Coast Guard said it would discuss the 'findings'.

It brings a devastating development to the search mission, which had been emphatically categorized as rescue effort - and not a recovery - by US officials.

The world has been praying for a 'miracle' after rescuers estimated the vital oxygen supply would end at 7.08am EST (12.08pm UK time, 9.09pm Sydney).

The families of some of the passengers who died on the Titanic are railing against the billionaire tourist trade that spawned the missing Titan submersible, calling it a 'disgusting' example of 'ogling' at their loved ones' watery grave.

The Titan has been missing since Sunday morning with five people on board, and oxygen is fast running out.

The passengers paid $250,000 for their seat on the 21ft vessel. OceanGate is now facing a mountain of fierce backlash and fury for its promises of safety.

'I compare it to looking inside a grave. I mean, people died there tragically, very tragically. Why make it a place for people to go see?

'Why, why do you have to do that? Let the people rest,' John Locascio, whose uncles, Alberto and Sebastiano, died in the disaster, told CNN.

'Why make it a place for people to go see? Dead bodies are there, or what’s left of them.

'The ship is there, or what’s left of it, and it’s just a peaceful site there right now, or as peaceful as can be.

The Coast Guard will hold a press briefing to discuss findings from the Horizon Arctic’s ROV on the sea floor near the Titanic.

It's scheduled for 3pm ET on Thursday in Boston.

The USCG tweeted just moments ago that a debris field had been discovered within the search area for the missing Titan submersible near the Titanic wreckage site.

A debris field was discovered within the search area for the missing Titan submersible near the Titanic wreckage site, the the US Coast Guard has said in a tweet.

The 'debris field' was found by an ROV that had been deployed to the ocean floor. 

Victor 6000, a French ROV that can reach depths of 20,000ft, has been searching on the ocean floor, while Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic has also deployed its own vehicle.

The Coast Guard said that 'experts within the unified command are evaluating the information.'

A medical team is now on site of the Titanic submersible rescue effort with medical equipment including a hyperbaric recompression chamber that can hold as many as six people.

The Canadian Navy ship HMCS Glace Gay arrived at 9 a.m. about two hours after rescuers believe the 96-hour oxygen supply depleted.

The medical team specializes in dive medicine, according to an official from the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Halifax of the Canadian Armed Forces.

'JRCC Halifax continues to assist MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre) Boston in support of submarine search efforts,' Lt. Cmdr. Len Hickey, senior public affairs officer, said in a statement

There are also three Canadian Coast Guard ships on scene if needed.

OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Söhnlein told CNN on Thursday that he believes the crew's expertise will extend the 'window available' for rescue.

OceanGate operates the Titanic submersible that has been missing since Sunday.

He added that OceanGate CEO and co-founder Stockton Rush and the crew would have 'realized days ago that the best thing they can do to ensure their rescue is to extend the limits of those supplies by relaxing as much as possible.'

'I continue to hold out hope for my friend and the rest of the crew,' Söhnlein said. 'I would encourage everyone to remain hopeful for getting the crew back safely.'

It was their last cup of coffee before heading off to sea.

The crew of the missing Titan submersible stopped intoa local Terre Café just before their fateful adventure. They were all wearing blue OceanGate Titanic jackets, staff there exclusively told DailyMail.com.

After waiting for days for the weather to break, they seemed excited that the fog had lifted Friday morning. 

'They were saying they were excited for a good expedition,' barista James Law said. 'And a few of them seemed in a rush. They were a little behind schedule. That was the first day there was a break in the fog for a while. They were in a rush to go. They were excited to go.'

The crew then boarded the Polar Prince vessel, docked just outside the hotel.

The Titan submersible began its dive to the Titanic wreck site on Sunday morning, 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.

Hours later, the main vessel lost contact with the five-member crew. As of early Thursday morning, rescuers have predicted their estimated 96-hour of oxygen has run out. 

A flotilla of international rescue ships are at the Titanic rescue site to try to locate the missing submersible.

Here lies the Titanic, at depths more than twice as great as the Grand Canyon (6,000ft) and five times the height of the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa (2,217ft).

But you may be surprised to know the Titanic is by no means the deepest wreck in the world - with the record held by a liner much further into the deep blue.

The deepest known shipwreck was found almost a year ago today, at 22,523 ft (6,865m) in the Philippine Sea - at depths nearly four times as great as the Grand Canyon - far deeper than the Titanic.

USS Samuel B. Roberts - also known as 'Sammy B' - was identified by the American explorer, Victor Vescovo, decades after it sank during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944.

It's understood that the USS Samuel B. Roberts was hit by a battleship, killing 89 people as it sank.

THE DEEPEST KNOWN SHIPWRECKS WORLDWIDE

USS Samuel B. Roberts: 22,620ft (6,895m)

USS Johnston 21,222ft (6,468m)

SS Rio Grande 18,904ft (5,762m)

SS City of Cairo 16,896ft (5,150m)

Rising carbon dioxide levels onboard the Titanic submersible may act as a sedative which sends the five trapped explorers to 'sleep', experts warned today.

Electrical power may have already been lost inside the 22ft vessel, experts fear. This means vital 'scrubbers' designed to filter out toxic levels of CO2 in confined spaces might have already switched off.

As oxygen levels fall, the proportion of carbon dioxide being exhaled will rise.

CO2 poisoning can be deadly. It can cause asphyxiation or hypercapnia, when too much of the gas floods the bloodstream. Symptoms of CO2 poisoning include headaches and drowsiness.

Higher levels can lead to disorientation, confusion, rapid breathing and seizures.

However, another risk presented to the Titan sub could help them survive in time to be rescued, experts claimed.

Hypothermia — a potential threat because of the low temperatures in the depths of the ocean — could see the crew lose consciousness and 'live through' the agonizing wait.

The deep ocean receives little to no light, and temperatures at 12,500 feet — how far the Titanic is buried — are about 2°C (36°F).

If the vessel is stuck on the seabed, the water temperature could also be around 0°C (32°F).

A French deep sea robot that can dive to depths of 6,000 meters (19,685 feet) has joined the search for the missing Titan submersible and its five passengers.

France's state-run ocean research institute said today that the Victor 6000 is fitted with cameras, lights and robotic arms that could, if Titan is found, assist in raising it to the surface.

'With all of its cameras and things, we're capable of finding things really well in an area 20 to 30 meters around,' said Olivier Lefort, the fleet director at the French ocean research institute Ifremer. 

He added that if the Titan is found, Victor 6000 could help attach cables to the submersible in an effort to raise it.

The robot was aboard the French ocean research ship L'Atalante, which was working in the Atlantic, 48 hours away, when the Titan vanished Sunday on its way to the Titanic wreckage, which is at about 3,800 meters (12,467ft) deep.

The US Coast Guard has given an updated on the weather at the scene of the search.

It said that winds are at 14mph with gusts up to 19mph, and the sea state is swells of up to 5ft with an air temperature of 10C (50F):

Rear Admiral John Mauger said he is 'thrilled and pleased' to have a UK submariner involved in the search operation for the missing Titan submersible.

He told Sky News: 'We've been very fortunate to have world-leading experts from several different services contribute to the search.'

He added he is 'really thrilled and pleased to have a UK submariner on site that is helping us to understand this complex undersea environment in this undersea search'.

'I really appreciate the support from UK submarine force,' he continued.

Mr Mauger said the 'unified command' is made up of the US Coast Guard, US Navy, Canadian Coast Guard, Canadian armed force, private sector and expertise from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Earlier, Downing Street said Lieutenant Commander Richard Kantharia would be part of the Titan rescue efforts 'as long as is required'. 

Rear Admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard confirmed there will be an investigation into what has led to the submersible going missing.

He told Sky News: 'There's going to be a time and place for a thorough investigation.

'I don't know what that looks like right now. The focus of the unified command is on the search and rescue, and so we're going to continue to use all those assets that we have on scene and really focus on locating the submersible and the people on board.'

When asked about a look at the safety of the deep-sea vessel in the future, he confirmed the priority right now is the search-and-rescue operation of Titan and its crew.

He said: 'There will be a thorough investigation, I'm sure of that, I don't know what that looks like right now but the unified command can tell you we are focused on search and rescue.

'This is really the focus for our unified efforts right now and so we're going to continue to prosecute the search and rescue. That discussion can be had at a later time.'

Rear Admiral John Mauger said any decision to stop the rescue effort will be taken after 'thorough consultation' with the families of those who are on board.

He told Sky News: 'There's a time and place for that discussion, right now we have this new capability that is available on the sea floor actively conducting the search and rescue, so my focus right now is, and the focus of the unified command, is really on maximising the use of those assets that we have on scene.

'We will remain focused on the search and rescue but continue to take in all available information as we plan out our future operation.'

Asked who will make that call, Mr Mauger said the unified command, which has been in 'frequent' communication with families of those on board, will evaluate data and plan operations.

He added: 'Most importantly, we're going to talk with the families and advise them of where we are in the search-and-rescue operations.

'So, there will be a time and place for that decision, that decision will be taken after thorough consultation with the families, but we're continuing to focus on the search and rescue at this time.'

Rear Admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard confirmed the initial reports suggesting the noise heard by sonar buoys was 'background ocean noise'.

He told Sky News: 'We've taken that information and shared it with top leading experts from the US Navy and the Canadian Navy, and they're working on the analysis of that information, they're continuing to work on the analysis of that information.

'The initial reports is that there's a lot of the sounds that were generated were from background ocean noise, but they continue to ... look for all available information there.

'What's important to me, and what's important as the unified command, is that we've continued search in the areas where noise was detected with the ROVs that we have from the time of that detection, so we're not waiting for this analysis to take action.

'The analysis is really helpful to our overall search-and-rescue efforts, but we're not waiting on it, we've moved the remote operated vehicles that we've had on site to those areas where noise was detected.'

Rear Admiral John Mauger said the equipment that the search effort needs is on the sea floor now.

He told Sky News: 'We have two ROVs that are capable of operating on the sea floor and are operating on the sea floor right now.

'Both of them have camera capability, they have sonar capability, they have articulated arms that are capable of attaching equipment, attaching a rescue line, also moving any obstructions that might be in the way, and most important they are on the sea floor now, so this is the equipment that we need. We have world-leading experts in the unified command that are advising us.'

He added it was 'an incredibly complex effort' to get this equipment on site.

'When we started as a unified command there wasn't a response plan for this, we didn't have any pre-positioned equipment for this, and so we had to start from scratch and bring together the best available equipment that we could get on scene quickest.'

Rear Admiral John Mauger, of the US Coast Guard, has said the operation to find the missing submersible is 'still an active search and rescue'.

Asked if he believes the oxygen on board will have run out by now, Mr Mauger told Sky News: '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.

'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 to expand our search capability, and then also to provide rescue capability as well.'

He also said the weather is favourable and they have the capabilities to both search for and rescue the missing submersible.

Rear Admiral Mauger added: 'Conditions for the search and rescue are favourable right now and so we're making the most of this weather window and the good conditions. We have aircraft still flying overhead looking for any indications of the submersible on the surface.

'But our focus right now is on the sub-sea search with the new capabilities that we have brought on line. We have remote operated vehicles that are working along the path line where the planned dive had taken place for the Titan submersible and we have the ability to both search and rescue.'

The Cambridge college attended by Hamish Harding, the British billionaire trapped in the missing Titan submersible, held an under-the-sea-themed May Ball last night.

Pembroke's event this year featured submarines and ocean-themed entertainment acts such as shanties – which the institution refused to change because the theme 'was chosen months ago'.

Mr Harding, 58, an alumnus of the prestigious college, is currently missing in the Atlantic Ocean after the submersible vessel lost contact with its mothership during a trip to the Titanic wreck.

The ball ended at 5am this morning, just hours before the sub is expected to run out of breathable air for the five trapped onboard.

Students were entertained by nautical themed music including a rendition of Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On, from the film Titanic, student newspaper Varsity reports.

Read more here:

A teenager trapped on the missing Titan submersible is a student at Strathclyde University in Glasgow.

Suleman Dawood, 19, is onboard the vessel with his father Shahzada Dawood, as well as three others.

Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy said her thoughts were with the teenager and his family while speaking at First Minister's Questions in Holyrood.

She said: 'The young man on the Titan submersible is a student in Glasgow. I'm sure that everyone here will join me in sharing their thoughts with him and his family at this unprecedented and difficult time.'

A spokesperson for the University of Strathclyde said: 'We are deeply concerned about Suleman, his father and the others involved in this incident.

'Our thoughts are with their families and loved ones, and we continue to hope for a positive outcome.'

Scientists, while remaining realistic about the chances of finding the Titan on the vast ocean floor, are still offering a glimmer of hope.

Rob Larter, a marine geophysicist with the British Antarctic Survey, said in London today that it's incredibly difficult to find an object the size of the Titan in a totally dark environment. 

He said it's not going to be found with active sonar from a surface ship, but rather with a towed or autonomous vehicle that's near the seafloor. Even those vehicles can see just a matter of meters.

'I've been involved in searches for hydrothermal vent sites,' he said. 'We've have the vehicles just a few tens of meters away and missed them and then come back and find them. So it really is, you know, literally it's just a needle in a haystack situation unless you've got a pretty precise location'

Jamie Pringle, an expert in forensic geosciences at Keele University, said the first 24 hours are critical in these kinds of rescue operations and that time period has long passed.

'So there's always a chance. It's never zero. But I think obviously the longer the time elapses, the lower the chance of success,' he said. Mr Larter called it a 'desperate situation' buy said you would try to stay optimistic as long as possible.

'It's kind of unimaginable if people are alive, trapped in a submersible with oxygen supplies running down,' he said.

The chief coordinator of a multinational mission to find a missing submersible near the Titanic wreck insisted today he remains focused on rescuing the five-member crew alive, as concerns grew that their oxygen had run out.

'We continue to find in particularly complex cases that people's will to live really needs to be accounted for as well. And so we're continuing to search and proceed with rescue efforts,' the US Coast Guard's Rear Admiral John Mauger told NBC's Today show.

Hopes are quickly vanishing that passengers on the missing Titan will be found alive - with only one remote-controlled submarine having the ability to retrieve the Titan by hooking a winch to the craft and hauling it off the ocean floor.

An unmanned remote controlled robot sub is the only vessel in the world that could help bring the men's submarine from the dark depths of the Atlantic to the surface, with the help of the US Navy's unique salvage system.

Victor 6000 ROV - which arrived at the search area at 2am on the French research vessel L'Atlante - can reach depths of 20,000ft, going deeper than where the Titanic lays. Once submerged it can get to the wreck, lying at 12,500ft, in approximately two hours after entering the water.

Read the full story on MailOnline:

Former Royal Navy submarine captain Ryan Ramsey also described the current situation as 'bleak' while the search-and-rescue operation continues for Titan after oxygen is thought to have run out aboard the submersible.

He said: 'The outlook is bleak, that's the only word for it, as this tragic event unfolds and almost the closing stages of where this changes from rescue to a salvage mission.

'That doesn't mean to say that the current ships and forces deployed won't continue to keep looking.

'They won't stop for many days, I imagine, but the reality is if you base it off oxygen alone, then they're out of oxygen. Carbon dioxide is also a critical element to it as well as the cold. It would be a miracle if there were survivors from it.'

Mr Ramsay also suggested the search was hampered by delays in getting resources to the area where Titan is believed to have gone missing.

Referring to the Kursk submarine disaster which killed all 118 Russian crew, he said: 'There has been a delay and this comes back to the Kursk in 2000. The reason that we were able to rapidly deploy within 24 hours to that site was because they rapidly deployed the equipment immediately and that didn't happen on this occasion.

'They probably lost two or three days getting equipment or ships there.

'There will be a variety of reasons for that, I don't think it'll be because they were just sat there and didn't want to do it, they might have been engaged in other activity and had to decouple from that and then detach to support.'

Ex-Royal Navy submarine captain Ryan Ramsey expects the search for the missing submersible Titan to carry on for weeks.

He said: 'If you remember when MH370 went down, that search continued for weeks, so you could find that now they have all that equipment there, particularly the really deep submersibles that are capable of those deep depths.

'They may search the whole area for weeks to come just to finalise it and around the Titanic wreckage itself.'

Downing Street said Lieutenant Commander Richard Kantharia would be part of the Titan rescue efforts 'as long as is required'.

The experienced submariner is understood to have joined the US Coastguard mission on Tuesday evening in the US.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, asked whether the request for UK assistance should have come sooner, said: 'We've always said we stand ready to provide any assistance required and that continues to be the case.

'The search and rescue efforts continue and we will look to support that in any way we can.'

Asked how long Lt Cmdr Kantharia would be 'embedded' with the rescue efforts, the spokesman replied: 'As long as is required.'

The No 10 official, asked whether Mr Sunak planned to speak to the families of the British people onboard the missing Titanic submersible, said the Prime Minister's 'thoughts remain with' them and that the Foreign Office is in 'constant contact' with those affected.

With the oxygen supply onboard the missing Titanic submersible believed to have run out, it will now require a miracle for the five people inside to be found alive.

Questions have been asked about the speed at which OceanGate informed the authorities that it had lost contact with Titan and the sub's alleged technical inadequacies - as well as the failure to address repeated warnings it was unsafe.

Here MailOnline examines what are being seen as the key errors leading up to the disaster and the numerous occasions safety concerns were raised:

Oxygen on Titan is now feared to have run out - but the desperate search for the missing Titanic submersible and the brave adventurers on board reached the floor of the Atlantic today - just as the desperate deadline passed.

The world is now praying for a 'miracle' with the vital oxygen supply predicted to have run out at 12.08pm UK time. Banging has been heard at 30 minute intervals from the depths of the Atlantic - possibly from the men striking the side of the sub - but it has not yet been located.

Those stuck onboard include British billionaire Hamish Harding, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, French navy veteran PH Nargeolet and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, who is just 19.

The US Coast Guard has said that the rescue operation is 'still in an active search' with no plans yet to shift to a recovery phase as the desperate families of the so-called 'Titan Five' wait for news.

Read the full story from MailOnline's chief reporter Martin Robinson here:

The French vessel L'Atalante is currently preparing their remotely operated underwater vehicle, the Victor 6000, to enter the water.

Rob Larter, a marine expert at the British Antarctic Survey, told a press conference today that he thought the Victor 6000 was the 'main hope' for an underwater rescue.

And Alistair Greig, a professor of marine engineering at University College London, said the robot's two manipulator arms could potentially allow it to untangle the Titan, or attach a device that could float it to the surface.

The Victor 6000 also has strong lights, allowing to see through some of the murk at such depths. But the experts warned that the rescuers would need to know fairly precisely where to look for Titan, which currently does not seem to be the case.

Finding the submersible 'could potentially take weeks of intense survey,' Mr Larter warned. And even if search teams do find the submersible, a rescue operation could take up precious time.

In a normal situation, it would take two hours for a ROV like the Victor 6000 to get down to the necessary depth - and another two hours to float back up, Mr Greig said. The missing submersible is also reportedly bolted from the outside, which could take up more time, he added.

Mr Larter said it was a 'desperate situation'. He added: 'It's kind of unimaginable if people are alive, trapped in a submersible with oxygen supplies running down. An objective assessment of where things are at the moment: it doesn't look good.'

The US Coast Guard previously said it expected that the oxygen supply in the Titan submersible would run out at 12.08pm UK time today.

That time has now been reached. We await further updates from the Coast Guard.

The Titan submersible now just has seconds of oxygen left according to Coast Guard estimates.

Officials previously said they expected the 96-hour oxygen supply to run out 12.08pm UK time today.

A British submariner and equipment from a UK firm will help the search for the missing Titan submersible, Downing Street said.

A No 10 spokesman said: 'At the request of US Coastguard the UK has embedded a Royal Navy submariner to assist the search and rescue effort for the missing submarine. That is a Lieutenant Commander Richard Kantharia.'

Lt Cmdr Kantharia 'has significant knowledge of submarine warfare and dived operations and so he will obviously be bringing that experience to the search and rescue team'.

The officer was on exchange with the US Navy and has been seconded to the search and rescue team.

A British C-17 aircraft will transport 'specialist commercial equipment' provided by Magellan to St John's to assist with the search-and-rescue effort.

The US Coast Guard has also revealed that the French vessel L'Atalante is now preparing their ROV to enter the water.

The US Coast Guard has just announced that the Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic has deployed a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that has reached the sea floor and began its search for the missing sub.

Civil aircraft flying over Atlantic Ocean above the search area are being asked by air-traffic controllers in New York to look out for the Titan vessel.

Captain Yohana Cohen, who flies Boeing 787 planes for Israeli airline El Al, tweeted: 'New York control asking for help looking for the missing submarine.'

He included a picture of a message which says: 'Can you keep an eye out outside for the next 20 mins. You are in the area of the missing sub.'

The US Coast Guard expects the 96-hour oxygen supply to run out 12.08pm UK time today.

But experts pointed out that is an imprecise estimate and could be extended if passengers have taken measures to conserve breathable air.

Frank Owen, a submarine search-and-rescue expert, said the oxygen supply figure is a useful 'target' for searchers, but is only based on a 'nominal amount of consumption'.

Mr Owen said the diver on board the Titan would likely be advising passengers to 'do anything to reduce your metabolic levels so that you can actually extend this.'

A former Royal Navy officer has said the doomed Titan Sub was an 'accident waiting to happen'.

Speaking to GB News, Chris Parry also said he believed all hope of finding those on board alive was over.

He said: 'I am afraid time's up. I don't think there's any prospect of getting these people back alive now. The maximum time was 96 hours, they disappeared 92 hours ago. They haven't found Titan yet.

'And it's going to take more than four hours to get them up to the surface. So I think we have to be realistic and say at the moment, obviously it will allow some time for extra margin, perhaps a day but I think we need to, I'm afraid look at the worst here.'

He added: 'I don't think anybody's prepared for a tragedy like this. It comes at you with a shock you think it's a routine activity, but it isn't. Of course I'm sure the risks probably weren't explained at all to the people concerned.

'This is a fundamentally unsafe operation and an accident was bound to happen at some stage. If you're gonna go down 4km into the ocean, we're talking about quite a long way. Everything has to go right. Every time. And I'm afraid the odds were stacked against this expedition right from the start.'

A race-against-time rescue mission is underway in a bid to save five passengers onboard an OceanGate Titan submersible that went missing on Sunday morning after it set off to explore the wreckage of the Titanic.

Here is an article from MailOnline containing a timeline of events from Saturday, including the rescue mission which is now at a critical phase:

The daunting search and rescue effort for the Titan is rushing experts and specialized underwater equipment together by land, by air and by sea to find the submersible before its oxygen runs out.

A remotely operated vehicle that can scan the sea floor, known as an ROV, was flown to Canada on Tuesday and was expected to arrive at the Titanic site this morning.

'The equipment that is onsite and coming is the most sophisticated in the world and certainly capable of reaching those depths,' said Sean Leet, chief executive of Canadian Horizon Maritime company.

The company and the Mi'kmaq band co-own the Polar Prince, which is the research vessel that launched the Titan.

'We are praying for our friends onboard the Titan submersible,' said Miawpukek First Nation Chief Mi'sel Joe. 'We want them to come home safely. We ask everyone across Canada and the world to pray with us that we can find and rescue the Titan.'

The Titan is steered by a simple, off-the-shelf video game controller - to the shock of gamers worldwide.

It's not the only commercially available equipment onboard the submersible, according to OceanGate Expeditions' website.

'The use (of) off-the-shelf components helped to streamline the construction, and makes it simple to operate and replace parts in the field,' the company said on its website.

The undersea exploration company, based in Everett, Washington, oversaw the Titan's mission and has been making yearly voyages to the Titanic since 2021.

OceanGate chief executive Stockton Rush, in an interview with the CBC last year, said the video game controller is 'super durable.' There are spare controllers kept onboard, but is not clear whether the submersible also had manual controls or other redundancies.

'It's meant for a 16 year old to throw it around,' said Mr Rush, who is the Titan's pilot and among the five people missing.

Documents show the company was repeatedly warned that there might be catastrophic safety problems posed by the way the submersible was developed.

Remote-operated robots that are typically used for undersea exploration will instead be critical to any hope of finding the Titan.

There were two such remotely operated vehicles - or ROVs - in North Atlantic waters yesterday, with more on the way.

Designed to scan the sea floor in real time, the ROVs are outfitted with cameras and travel to depths many other vessels cannot.

ROVs have been used for undersea exploration since at least the mid-1980s, according to deep-sea explorer Katy Croff Bell, who is president of Ocean Discovery League.

The vessels are expensive to use and their method of data collection can be slow and painstaking, which is partly why scientists know so little about the ocean floor even after years of exploration.

But the ROVs might be the only way to find the Titan after the submersible vanished on Sunday on a dive to the wreckage of the Titanic.

'ROVs are essential to the search and rescue mission,' Ms Bell said. 'Really the only way you're going to be able to recover anything from the deep sea floor in real time.'

The Titan's voyage this month was one of several missions the submersible took to the Titanic's wreck site in recent weeks.

The entire expedition began in early May in St John's, Newfoundland in Canada and was expected to last until the end of June, according to documents filed in a federal court in Virginia that oversees matters involving the Titanic shipwreck.

Each mission lasted eight days, but it was not clear how many missions had taken place before the fateful trip - or how many were scheduled to occur afterward. Eighteen total dives were planned.

An Instagram photo posted by OceanGate Expeditions, the undersea exploration company that commanded the Titan's missions, showed a group of smiling people labelled as 'our Mission 3 and Mission 4 crew' at sea just days before the Titan vanished on Sunday - the first day of its latest voyage.

Since its first expedition to the Titanic shipwreck in the summer of 2021, the Titan's crews encountered problems aboard the submersible, including issues with its electrical system and battery, according to documents filed in a federal court in Virginia that oversees matters involving the Titanic shipwreck.

The issues during the first expedition were mostly electrical problems that were 'solved as they came up,' according to the papers filed by OceanGate Expeditions, the undersea exploration company that commanded the Titan's missions.

Ultimately, 18 of the submersible's crew members explored the wreck site for the first time in 2021, the filing stated. Others, such as Paul-Henry Nargeolet, had already travelled to the site.

Mr Nargeolet co-piloted four dives in 2021 and is one of the five people missing since the submersible vanished on Sunday on its latest dive to the Titanic wreck.

The 2022 expedition brought more problems to the Titan.

'On the first dive to the Titanic, the submersible encountered a battery issue and had to be manually attached to its lifting platform,' the company wrote in another filing. 'In the high sea state, the submersible sustained modest damage to its external components and OceanGate decided to cancel the second mission for 'repairs and operational enhancements.'

Teams racing to find the missing Titan submersible have detected underwater noises in the search area. But it won't be easy to find the source of that sound in the 'noisy' ocean.

There are many other potential sources of sound underwater, including from fish, other animals and of course human-made instruments, according to Matt Dzieciuch, an ocean acoustics expert at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

While the Coast Guard said search teams heard banging noises at 30-minute intervals, it's still unclear whether the banging noises were a true signal of life.

Usually, an underwater vehicle will have a device called a pinger that can correspond with the surface and make it easier to locate, Mr Dzieciuch said. But it's unclear whether the Titan submersible was using one.

The search team is facing additional challenges because sound gets bent as it travels underwater, due to how pressure and temperature change at different depths, Mr Dzieciuch said. That can create echo-like effects and make it hard to locate the source of a particular sound.

The search is now closing in on the critical 96-hour mark when breathable air is expected to run out, reaching a vital moment in the intense effort to save the five people aboard.

The Titan submersible was estimated to have a 96-hour supply of breathable air when it launched Sunday morning in the North Atlantic.

The deadline to find and rescue the sub is 12.08pm based on estimates the US Coast Guard has provided.

Experts say that the oxygen supply number is an imprecise estimate and could be extended if passengers have taken measures to conserve breathable air.

There is now less than one hour left of oxygen on board the Titan submersible, with the US Coast Guard expecting the supply to run out 12.08pm UK time today.

Spencer Matthews has admitted that prior to this week's events, he 'wouldn't think twice' about taking a submarine trip to the wreck of the Titanic.

It comes as an international search is being led to locate the Titan sub which vanished after launching on Sunday with five men on board.

As the search continues, Spencer appeared on The News Agents podcast to discuss the worry his own family face when he embarks on adventures.

The former Made In Chelsea star, 34, is no stranger to an escapade himself and recently finished in third place in The Jungle Ultra marathon after a strenuous five-day trek through the Amazon Rainforest.

Read the full story on MailOnline:

The stepson of a billionaire who is missing on the Titan sub has deleted his Twitter account after being mocked for publicly flirting with an OnlyFans model moments after asking for prayers for his stricken relative. 

Brian Szasz, 36, raised eyebrows after responding to a Twitter post made by a scantily-clad OnlyFans model named Brea, which was captioned 'can i sit on u'.

Clearly impressed by the curvaceous sex worker, Szasz replied: 'Yes please!', adding a face with love heart emojis.

Since then, Szasz appears to have deleted his Twitter account, with the page link saying 'something went wrong, try again'. 

Read the full story on MailOnline:

Questions have been raised about the safety of the vessel after it emerged earlier in the week that a former employee of OceanGate had raised concerns over 'safety and quality control issues regarding the Titan to OceanGate executive management'.

David Lochridge, OceanGate's former director of marine operations, claimed in an August 2018 court document that he was wrongfully fired after flagging worries about the company's alleged 'refusal to conduct critical, non-destructive testing of the experimental design'.

Yesterday, Kathleen Cosnett, a cousin of Mr Harding, 58, told the Telegraph that OceanGate's eight-hour delay before contacting the authorities was 'far too long'. She said: 'It's very frightening. It took so long for them to get going to rescue them, it's far too long. I would have thought three hours would be the bare minimum.'

Sean Leet, co-founder and chairman of Horizon Maritime Services, which owns the Polar Prince mothership from which Titan launched, defended the company at a press conference yesterday. He said: 'OceanGate runs an extremely safe operation. Our full focus right now is getting that submersible located and getting those people brought back safely.'

The Cambridge college attended by Hamish Harding, the British billionaire trapped in the missing tourist Titan sub, last night held an under-the-sea themed May Ball after refusing to change its theme because it 'was chosen months ago'.

Pembroke College's May Ball this year featured underwater decorations, branding with submarines and ocean-themed entertainment acts such as shanties.

Mr Harding, 58, is currently missing in the Atlantic Ocean after a trip to visit the Titanic wreck went wrong and the submersible vessel he was in lost contact with its mothership.

Read the full story on MailOnline here:

These photographs show the sun rising over St John's Harbour in Newfoundland today as the search for the missing OceanGate Expeditions submersible enters its final hours.

The vessel lost communication with tour operators on Sunday while about 435 miles south of St John's, during a voyage to the Titanic shipwreck off the coast of Canada.

Titan is now believed to be about 900 miles east and 400 miles south of Newfoundland.

A leading expert in forensic geosciences at Keele University has said hope is not high that the missing Titan sub will be found.

Dr Jamie Pringle told GB News: 'The US Coast Guard's just released a graphic of the search patterns that they've been doing so far to try and find this.

'And, of course, you've got a massive water depth. So that's one issue. Obviously, currents are moving, so that's another big issue.

'The second issue of course, if it is on the bottom of the ocean, then this floor is not flat. It's very rugged, more rugged than above sea level. It might be in a submarine canyon, or something hard to find, or it might be in the Titanic debris field itself, which covers quite a large are. So those are big issues. And oxygen is time critical today.'

Asked whether he was hopeful the sub could be found, Dr Pringle said: 'The US Coast Guard has said they will keep searching and as was mentioned that oxygen could last longer than the original estimate. I mean, it is only an estimate. But the golden hours of survival are the first 24 from everything from earthquake disasters to missing persons.

'So, the longer the time frame, the lower the chances so it does happen. You see fishing vessels that have gone down and after two or three days they actually find the survivors in a pocket of air. So, it is possible. It has happened in the past but certainly hope is not high, shall we say.'

A French research vessel carrying a deep-sea diving robot has slowed down as it reaches the search area for a missing submersible that was exploring the wreck of the Titanic, the Marine Traffic app showed.

Marine Traffic data showed the Atalante had slowed to a speed of 6 nautical knots and was located about 20 km to 30 km from the Polar Prince vessel which had carried the missing Titan submersible to waters above the Titanic wreck.

Below is a file photograph of the Atalante.

Alistair Greig, professor of marine engineering at University College London, has suggested two possible scenarios based on images of Titan.

He said if it had an electrical or communications problem, it could have surfaced and remained floating, 'waiting to be found' - bearing in mind the vessel can reportedly be unlocked from the outside only.

'Another scenario is the pressure hull was compromised - a leak,' he said in a statement. 'Then the prognosis is not good.'

Retired US navy submarine commander Captain Alfred McLaren has described deep sea tour company OceanGate as 'a little rough around the edges'.

The veteran submersible pilot has been to the Titanic wreckage twice in Russian vessels. But he told The Times: 'I've advised people not to do it. I wouldn't do it in a million years.'

Captain McLaren, president emeritus of The Explorers Club, said: 'They have not spent their life in the underwater world like I have, or they'd know that you don't take short cuts - ever - against Mother Nature. They also didn't have any back-up system always have a back-up. Have several.'

'What would have been prudent for OceanGate is at least have a deep diving ROV that could go down and be in the vicinity keeping watch.'

A man who was one of OceanGate’s first customers has characterised a dive he made to the site two years ago as a 'kamikaze operation.'

'You have to be a little bit crazy to do this sort of thing,' said Arthur Loibl, a 61-year-old retired businessman and adventurer from Germany.

He went on a voyage along with OceanGate chief executive Stockton Rush, French diver and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet and two men from England. 'Imagine a metal tube a few meters long with a sheet of metal for a floor. You can't stand. You can't kneel. Everyone is sitting close to or on top of each other,' Mr Loibl said. 'You can't be claustrophobic.'

During the 2.5-hour descent and ascent, the lights were turned off to conserve energy, he said, with the only illumination coming from a fluorescent glow stick. The dive was repeatedly delayed to fix a problem with the battery and the balancing weights. In total, the voyage took 10.5 hours.

The group was lucky and enjoyed an amazing view of the wreck, Mr Loibl said, unlike visitors on other dives who only got to see a field of debris or in some cases nothing at all. Some customers lost non-refundable payments after bad weather made descent impossible.

He described Mr Rush as a tinkerer who tried to make do with what was available to carry out the dives, but in hindsight, he said, 'it was a bit dubious.' Mr Loibl added: 'I was a bit naive, looking back now. It was a kamikaze operation.'

The Coast Guard has posted a link to its latest press conference held yesterday. Click here to watch it.

Oxygen on the missing Titanic submersible is expected to run out around midday today, with rescue efforts to find the five people onboard in full force this morning.

The vessel, named Titan, lost communication with tour operators on Sunday while about 435 miles south of St John's, Newfoundland, during a voyage to the Titanic shipwreck off the coast of Canada.

The 6.7m (22ft)-long OceanGate Expeditions vessel reportedly had a 96-hour oxygen supply in case of emergencies.

Titan is carrying five people, including British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding.

The others are UK-based businessman Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman Dawood, OceanGate's chief executive and founder Stockton Rush and French submersible pilot Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

Titan is believed to be around 900 miles east and 400 miles south of Newfoundland. It is unknown how deep the vessel is, with the seabed being around 3,800m from the surface.

The US Coast Guard confirmed three boats arrived at the area where 'banging' has been heard by a Canadian P-3 aircraft early yesterday.

The John Cabot, Atlantic Merlin and Skandi Vinland were the first to arrive with the following vessels also in the area:
- Canadian CGS Ann Harvey
- Canadian CGS Terry Fox
- Motor Vessel Horizon Arctic
- French Research Vessel L'Atalante (ROV)
- His Majesty's Canadian Ship Glace Bay (a mobile decompression chamber and medical personnel)

The Explorers' Club said it was ready to provide the UK-based Magellan's remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that is certified to travel as deep as 6,000m.

A door with signage removed is seen at OceanGate headquarters at the Waterfront Building within the Port of Everett complex in Everett, Washington, today.

In a statement, Richard Garriott de Cayeux, president of The Explorers Club, confirmed it is sending support to help with the search for Titan but criticised the time taken to get the support accepted.

Posting on Twitter, Mr Garriott de Cayeux wrote: 'Thanks for all your support and hard work on the rescue operations for our friends aboard Titan.

'I believe we have importantly improved the odds of a positive outcome through our advice, volunteering of services and equipment, and even the political pressure we continue to bring to bear.

'All has been needed. All continues to be needed. Magellan is en route (should have been accepted sooner), we are still trying to get side scan sonar (should have been accepted sooner), and still working on ships to transport equipment and other details.

'We continue to come together for our friends, their families and the ideals of The Explorers Club, and the cause of safe scientific exploration of extreme environments.

'There is good cause for hope and we are making it more hopeful.'

James Cleverly has said his department was not 'directly involved' in the efforts to find the missing Titanic submersible, adding that the UK was ready to provide consular assistance.

The Foreign Secretary told LBC: 'Our High Commissioner in Canada stands ready to help and support on the consular side of things.

'This is a highly technical, highly difficult situation. Not one that my department is directly involved in, but of course we stand ready to support our friends around the world.'

Deep-sea explorer Dr David Gallo has said it will take hours to rescue the submersible once found.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain, he said: 'In this case, the noises are repetitive, every half hour I believe.

'Three different aircraft heard them in their sensors at the same time and it went on for two days-plus.

'It's still going on apparently. There's not a lot in the natural world we can think of that would do that every 30-minute cycle.

'We have to, at this point, assume that that's the submarine and move quickly to that spot, locate it and get robots down there to verify that is where the submarine is.

'They've got to go fully ready as if that was the sub because it takes a while to locate it and get it up to the surface, it takes hours.'

Deep-sea explorer Dr David Gallo believes it would take a 'miracle' to rescue those trapped in Titan, but remains optimistic.

He told ITV's Good Morning Britain today: 'Maybe two days ago my hope was sliding downward rapidly, but then these noises appeared and there seems to be very credible sources there, credible and repeatable.

'We'll see how that pans out but everything is happening very quickly, so we have a race against time.

'Our hopes are high. We need a miracle at this point, but miracles do happen, so I'm very optimistic.'

When Roger Mallinson glimpsed a human face, framed by ‘flaming blond hair’, through the porthole of his mini-submarine, his first delirious thought was, ‘Is that a mermaid?’ A split-second later, he understood. The face belonged to a diver, bringing a slim hope that he and his co-pilot Roger Chapman might be rescued.

Read the full story here on MailOnline about when the world watched and prayed for two British engineers who sat stranded 50 years ago on the Atlantic seabed in a second-hand tin can as the air ran out.

Our latest story on MailOnline about the missing Titanic submersible looks at how oxygen is expected to run out by the end of this morning.

Rescue efforts to find the five people on board have continued overnight - and are becoming ever more desperate - with just hours to pinpoint 'banging' from the deep and save them.

The vessel, named Titan, lost communication with tour operators on Sunday while about 435 miles south of St John's, Newfoundland, during a voyage to the Titanic off the coast of Canada. The last 'ping' of its homing device was heard on Sunday afternoon - directly above the world's most famous seawreck.

Read the full article from MailOnline's chief reporter Martin Robinson here:

The Daily Mail's front page story on the search today leads on rescuers insisting that 'we always have hope' for the five passengers on the missing submersible.

The US Coast Guard predicts that the oxygen supply in the Titan submersible will run out at 12.08pm UK time today (Thursday).

The US Coast Guard, the agency coordinating the rescue mission for the missing submersible at the Titanic released a new map showing the coordinated effort's search pattern

The search area has now expanded to around 14,000 square miles - twice the size of the state of Connecticut.

The update also stated that several other assets were mobilizing to help with the increasingly desperate search.

Among those are the Canadian CGS Ann Harvey, Canadian CGS Terry Fox, Motor Vessel Horizon Arctic (ROV), French Research Vessel L'Atalante (ROV).

The creator of the submersible missing underwater since Sunday said last year that his biggest fear was the craft getting stuck beneath the waves.

Stockton Rush, the 61-year-old founder and CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, is among five people on board the Titan sub, which was journeying to visit the wreck of the Titanic. Rescue teams are desperately trying to find the sub and save Rush and his fellow passengers before the air runs out.

Rush spoke to CBS News in the summer of 2022, and told reporter David Pogue on his subsequent podcast Unsung Science that his worst fear was getting the sub trapped.

'What I worry about most are things that will stop me from being able to get to the surface,' said Rush. 'Overhangs, fish nets, entanglement hazards.'

But he insisted that such obstacles were avoidable.

'And, that's just a technique, piloting technique,' said Rush.

'It's pretty clear — if it's an overhang, don't go under it. If there is a net, don't go near it.

'So, you can avoid those if you are just slow and steady.'

He said he didn't think diving in a submersible was 'very dangerous' at all.

The Canadian Armed Forces released new footage of their planes searching for the missing Titanic submersible in the deep Atlantic Ocean.

The Canadian military shared the footage via a video posted to Twitter on Wednesday after forecasters warned foggy weather and large waves may impact the search's efforts.

The footage shows the Air Force soaring through the skies, with pilots scouring the vast expanse of ocean below as the search becomes increasingly desperate.

The president of the New York-based Explorers Club has accused the U.S. government of delaying the delivery of vital equipment for the search for the missing Titanic tourist sub.

Richard Garriott told National Geographic that he had complained to top officials about the bureaucracy hampering the race against the clock.

He wrote on Wednesday afternoon to Vice Admiral William Galanis, commander of Naval Sea Systems Command; U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral John W. Mauger, who is leading the recovery mission; Congressman Lloyd Doggett; and Representative Eric Swalwell, urging them to allow Magellan to the site.

'Magellan has received mixed signals, first hearing from US Gov to get ready, waiting for plans - then getting told to stand down,' wrote Garriott.

The wife of the CEO of OceanGate, who was piloting the missing Titanic tourist submersible, is descended from a wealthy New York couple who drowned on the Titanic.

Wendy Rush's husband, Stockton, is among five people inside the sub, which went missing on Sunday during a trip to visit the Titanic wreckage.

Wendy's great-great-grandparents Isidor and Ida died in the 1912 disaster.

In the 1997 James Cameron film, they were depicted lying on a bed embracing as the icy waters rose around them.

A sonar expert claims the 'banging' heard by search and rescue vessels at the search site for the missing Titanic tourist sub is likely to be 'debris' and 'junk' from the iconic wreck.

Jeff Karson, Professor Emeritus of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Syracuse University, told DailyMail.com the sounds heard are likely to be 'wishful thinking' by the Coast Guard.

Karson says he won't be 'shocked if that, wherever that sound is, that there's no submarine there.'

The oxygen supply on the missing Titan submersible is projected to run out at 7:08 a.m. ET Thursday, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Coast Guard said today.

The vessel with five people on board that was launched on Sunday to view the Titanic wreck site is equipped with 96 hours of oxygen.

As of Tuesday at 1 p.m., they were down to 41 hours of oxygen. 

But on Wednesday, US Coast Guard First District response coordinator Jamie Frederick cautioned against referring to the 96 hour oxygen limit, which he said was just 'one data point' out of many, and revealed that the crew has 'limited' rations of food and water.

 There are currently five surface ships with five more on the way, two underwater remote-operated subs and multiple planes in the air looking for the missing sub.

Some of the world's most advanced underwater search equipment has been deployed to scour the depths of the Atlantic for the missing Titanic sub with five people on board.

Two submersibles capable of descending 20,000ft beneath the ocean surface are currently leading the underwater search and more are on the way, Coast Guard chiefs have said.

The vehicles are being aided by a fleet of specialized ships which also include tools that could help lift Titan from the seabed - if it is found.

But there are now less than 24 hours' worth of oxygen remaining on the missing vessel, which disappeared on Sunday morning.

The search area has now expanded to around 14,000 square miles - twice the size of the state of Connecticut.

The stepson of a billionaire who is currently trapped inside the Titanic tourist submersible has been mocked online after asking an OnlyFans model to SIT on him hours after begging for 'prayers'.

Brian Szasz previously posted that his stepfather Hamish Harding was missing on the Titan vessel along with four other men.

But hours after outing Harding as one of the members on board Szasz attended a Blink-182 concert – which sparked a war of words with rapper Cardi B.

He then quote tweeted an image of an OnlyFans model, who posed in a skimpy bikini with the caption 'can I sit on u' before replying 'Yes please!'.

Billionaire Harding, 58, CEO of Action Aviation in Dubai, and Shahzada Dawood, 48, a UK-based board member of the Prince's Trust charity, plus his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, are all on board.

The lost submersible vessel exploring the Titanic wreckage is piloted by a $29.99 gaming controller that has received hundreds of poor customer reviews online.

OceanGate, the company conducting the excursion, revealed that the Titan submersible is navigated by a modified Logitech G F710 Wireless Gamepad first released in 2010.

The controller - which runs on two AA batteries - has a 4.2 out of five overall score on Amazon, but hundreds of one-star reviews dating back more than a decade claim the device suffers from irritating and regular connection problems.

Other themes among the negative reviews include problems with the controller's analog sticks and that pressing certain buttons scrambled the entire pad.

And the Logitech G F710 Wireless Gamepad is only compatible with decade-old Windows and Chrome systems.

Horizon Maritime, the owner of the Polar Prince, the support vessel that took OceanGate’s Titan out to sea, is giving an update.

The company, which is now assisting with the search and rescue of the Titanic sub, said the 'equipment deployed is the finest in the world and the most capable of finding Titan.'

A representative for the company said a deep water ROV is on its way to the site, but not expected to be there until Thursday morning - as the oxygen in the sub has supposedly dwindled down to 20 hours.

'We are very aware of the time sensitivity around this situation,' the rep said. 

A fake Twitter account masquerading as that of OceanGate Expeditions, the company responsible for the missing Titanic submersible, sparked disgust by posting an explainer video of 'why we're not sure we can rescue' the crew 'alive'.

The account has the same profile photo and name as the legitimate company account. It has been posting updates about the frantic search since Monday.

Its recently changed username is @OceanGateExpeds, whereas the real account's handle is @OceanGateExped.

It shared a video graphic illustrating the depth of the wreckage. It had been created by a Spanish research company.

'Here is an explanation of the complexity of the search. Even finding them in time, we are not sure that we can rescue them alive, ' the fake tweet said.

Frederick said there was still reason to hope for a successful rescue of the missing Titanic submersible. 

'This is a search and rescue mission, 100 percent. We are smack dab in the middle of search and rescue.

'Sometimes, we don't find what we are looking for and you have to carefully consider all of the factors and make a tough decision but we are not there yet.

'If we continue to search, then potentially we could be at that point, but we are not there yet.

'When you are in the middle of search and rescue, you always have to have hope.'

Frederick also cautioned against referring to OceanGate's 96 hour oxygen limit, which he said was just 'one data point' out of many, and revealed that the crew has 'limited' rations of food and water.

Captain Frederick confirmed that more 'banging' sounds were detected this morning in the search for the missing Titanic submersible, but the US Navy cannot yet conclude whether they are coming from the stranded vessel.

He would not confirm that they were 30 minutes apart, as had been reported, nor did he describe them as being an SOS signal, as others had claimed.

However Frederick said the sounds and the ongoing search meant there was still reason 'for hope'.

He said this is still a 'search and rescue mission 100%' and he will not speculate when that might end.

'Sometimes you're in a position where you have to make a tough decision,' he added. 'We're not there yet.'

Captain Frederick with the US Coast Guard said they do not know what the noises are, but that multiple Canadian planes detected the 'banging' sounds on Tuesday, and then again today.

The noises are being analyzed by experts, he said to see if they could be coming from the missing Titan submersible.

It's also possible that the noises could be from sea animals, Carl Hartsfield, director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said at the presser.

'We need to have hope,' the captain added. 'I can't tell you what the noises are.'

The search area is now up to 2.5 miles deep - twice the size of Connecticut.

The US Coast Guard is giving an update on the missing Titan submersible.

Captain Frederick said there are five 'surface assets' searching for the Titan in an area where the 'banging sounds' were coming from yesterday and today.

He said it's expected that five more vessels will respond in the next two days.

There are two remotely operated vehicles 'ROVs' expected to be at the site by Thursday morning.

The search area has expanded twice the size of Connecticut.

'This is a search and rescue mission 100%,' he said. 

An anxiety inducing diagram shows just how cramped the occupants of the OceanGate Titan are, with only room for one person to extend their legs on the 22ft long submersible.

NBC tech editor Ben Goggin tweeted the illustration of the seating configuration.

'I found an old PDF promoting the Titanic-bound Titan submarine. It shows a "typical seating configuration" for 5 people.

'Only 1 person can extend their legs. This looks like hell folks.'

The US Coast Guard tweeted out weather conditions for the remote area in the Atlantic Ocean where the search continues for the missing Titanic submersible.

Winds of 23 miles per hour and gusts of up to 30 miles per hour are the current weather conditions in the area hundreds of miles off the Newfoundland coast.

The ocean has swells of six to seven feet. The air temperature is at about 50 degrees.

Arthur Loibl, 60, dived down 12,500 feet to the Titanic wreck site in August 2021 and says he was 'incredibly lucky' to survive.

The German adventurer who paid 100,000 euros to see the wreck on the now-missing Titan two years ago called the voyage a 'suicide mission.'

He recalled the first sub they tried didn't work and a second attempted dive had to be abandoned. 

He added that parts fell off the vessel and the mission went into the water five hours late due to electrical problems.

This, Loibl suspects, could be the cause of the Titan's disappearance.

'You need strong nerves, you mustn't be claustrophobic and you have to be able to sit cross-legged for ten hours,' Loibl said. 'It must be hell down there. There's only 2.50 meters of space, it's four degrees, there's no chair, no toilet.'

He added: 'I feel bad, I'm nervous, I have a sinking feeling in my stomach. I was incredibly lucky back then.'

Sabrina Dawood, whose brother Shahzada Dawood, 48, and nephew Suleman, 19, are among five passengers trapped inside the sub said they would be 'as moved as we are by the support of the global community'.

Shahzada's wife Christine and daughter Alina, are waiting for any news and hoping they will be found safely before the oxygen onboard runs out in less than 24 hours.

'We are deeply grateful for the efforts of news agencies during this difficult time; your constant coverage of the missing Titan submersible is undoubtedly playing a large role in the world's ability to access relevant updates on the matter.

'At this time, the Dawood family's sole focus is the rescue of our beloved Shahzada and Suleman Dawood and we are unable to address any questions or comments at the moment.

'We trust that the family will be granted privacy as we deal with this crisis. May Shahzada and Suleman return to us safe and sound. We are sure they would be as moved as we are by the support of the global community during this period of difficulty.'

The U.S. Coast Guard will be holding a press briefing for the missing Titan submersible at 1pm ET.

Oxygen onboard the Titan has now dwindled to just 24 hours.

The sub lost communications with its operator, OceanGate Expeditions, less than two hours into its dive to the famous shipwreck on Sunday, with five people onboard.

The U.S. Coast Guard released an image on Wednesday showing the search patterns for the missing Titan sub.

As of Tuesday morning, a total of 10,000 square miles have been searched in favorable weather conditions with an increase in visibility from the previous day.

Three vessels arrived on-scene Wednesday morning, the The John Cabot has side scanning sonar capabilities and is conducting search patterns alongside the Skandi Vinland and the Atlantic Merlin.

Five missing tourists lost near the wreck of the Titanic may have experienced lung-crushing pressure, 'nitrogen narcosis' and hypothermia if the 22ft sub's hull cracked, experts have said.

One scenario is a hull breach while the vessel was in the deep ocean, and if this has to occurred experts say the occupants odds of survival are almost zero.

Dr Nicolai Roterman, a deep-sea ecologist at the University of Portsmouth, said if such an accident did occur the pressure would have killed the sub occupants almost instantly.

Even with an air supply, another deep-sea hazard is nitrogen narcosis — with the body effectively suffocating from the inside out.

Also an unprotected person would also have to contend with the prospect of hypothermia setting in rapidly.

The deep ocean receives little to no light, and temperatures at 12,500 feet are about 2°C (36°F).

A Florida couple sued the CEO of Titanic tourism company OceanGate Expeditions, accusing him of misleading them about their trip to visit the wreck and refusing to refund their $210,258 when they complained.

Marc and Sharon Hagle, who made their fortune in commercial real estate, are well known for their philanthropy and their adventurous spirit.

In 2017 they were announced as among the first customers for OceanGate, which was founded in 2009 by Seattle-born aviator and businessman Stockton Rush, who is now missing along with the sub.

But they never got to take their trip, and in February this year sued Rush, accusing him of selling the adventure knowing it was not on schedule, and refusing to refund their cash.

OceanGate's submersible, the Titan, is currently missing with five people on board after it lost communication during a dive to the Titanic's wreckage, which is around 12,500ft below the Atlantic.

A submarine search and rescue expert says the reports of 'banging sounds' detected by floating buoy in search for the missing Titanic sub could suggest the vessel is closer to the surface than initially feared. 

Frank Owen told the BBC his 'confidence went up by an order of magnitude' when he heard the reports.

'Firstly, on board this craft is a retired French navy diver. He would know the protocol for trying to alert searching forces… on the hour and the half hour you bang like hell for three minutes.'

'Below about 180 metres, the water temperature drops very rapidly,' he explained. 'That creates a layer that the [sonar signal] bounces off. But if you're in the same depth water it tends to go quite straight.'

It remains unclear if the banging came from the submersible, but it has now become the 'focus' of the mission.

The first photo from the missing Titanic sub search site has emerged, showing the rescue ship Deep Energy - the latest hope in the ongoing hunt for the vessel.

Oxygen onboard the Titan has now dwindled to just 24 hours.

The sub lost communications with its operator, OceanGate Expeditions, less than two hours into its dive to the famous shipwreck on Sunday, with five people onboard.

As officials race against time to save five people aboard the missing Titanic submersible, an immersive new video show how deep it could be. 

The clip, created by Spanish animation company MetaBallStudios, gradually descends through a digital underwater scenescape. 

As it goes, the heights of multiple landmarks are depicted in the water, including the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty and Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. 

Eventually, the camera reaches 12,000 feet (3,700 metres) down – the depth of the remains of the Titanic at the bottom of the North Atlantic. 

The 'Titan' submersible, operated by US firm OceanGate, started its dive to the wreck Sunday morning but all contact with its mothership was lost shortly after.

A Surrey school has shared its concern at the news that a former student is among those on the missing Titanic submersible.

Suleman Dawood, 19, and his father Shazhada, 48, are among five believed to be on board the craft now at the centre of search efforts in the Atlantic.

ACS International School Cobham confirmed Suleman is a recent graduate and said the school community's thoughts are with the family.

Head of school, Barnaby Sandow, said: 'The ACS International School Cobham community is deeply concerned by the news that recent graduate, Suleman Dawood, and his father are on board the submersible which has gone missing during a dive to the Titanic's wreck.'

He added: 'Our thoughts are with the family, friends, and loved ones during this difficult time.'

Rear Admiral John Mauger, of the US Coast Guard, said the noise detected in the search area of the missing deep-sea vessel is a 'target' and a 'focus' for the rescue operation.

Asked on CBS News how likely it is the noise was caused by humans, Mr Mauger said: 'This is an incredibly complex site there, you have to remember that it's the wreck site of the Titanic, so there is a lot of metal and different objects in the water around the site.

'That's why it's so important that we've engaged experts from the navy that understand the science behind noise and can classify or give us better information about what the source of that noise may be.

'In the meantime, it's something, it's a target, it's a focus for us to look at.

'We've deployed the remote-operated vehicles and the surface vessel, the Canadian Coast Guard surface vessel, that has sonar capability in the vicinity of that to see if we can detect anything in the water in that area.'

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the UK-based Nato Submarine Rescue System (NSRS) team is available to offer expertise and guidance to the search operation.

But reports indicate the the depths involved in the search 'greatly exceed' that which the NSRS can safely operate.

An MoD spokesperson said: 'As the host nation for NATO's multinational submarine rescue capability, we continue to monitor the incident in the North Atlantic and will guide and assist in any response activity as appropriate.'

Shahzada and Suleman Dawood

Shahzada Dawood, 48, is vice-chairman of Pakistani conglomerate Engro Corporation, and a long-time adviser to the King's charity, Prince's Trust International, with a focus on its work in Pakistan.

He lives in Surbiton, south-west London, with his son, wife Christine and daughter Alina, according to the Telegraph.

He is on board alongside son Suleman, 19.

Stockton Rush

The chief executive and founder of OceanGate Expeditions, Stockton Rush originally trained as a pilot, becoming the youngest jet transport-rated pilot in the world aged 19 in 1981, according to his profile on the OceanGate website.

He graduated from Princeton with a degree in aerospace engineering in 1984, the profile says.

Paul-Henri Nargeolet

A former commander who served in the French navy for 25 years, Mr Nargeolet, 77, was in the first human expedition to visit the ship in 1987.

After his career in the French navy, where he was captain of the deep submergence group, he held a number of roles in deep diving and piloting submersibles, including acting as director of DESM, noted on his LinkedIn profile as a French deep-diving equipment company.

Hamish Harding

The billionaire pilot and chair of Action Aviation, a sales and operations company which manages private jet sales, shared on his Instagram account that he had joined the OceanGate expedition as a 'mission specialist'.

Mr Harding, 58, is based in the UAE where the Action Aviation HQ is located, and presents himself in personal social media biographies as a 'world explorer'.

Desperate family and friends of the five missing on the Titan submarine fear they are 'losing time' as experts warn the crew has just 24 hours of breathable air left.

Rescue teams are racing against the clock three days after the deep-sea vessel went missing near the wreck of the Titanic.

Large banging noises had last night been detected in the search area, the US Coast Guard confirmed, but added that its initial attempts using underwater equipment had 'yielded negative results'.

Nevertheless it sparked fresh hopes that the passengers onboard were alive and could be hitting te side of the craft with cups in a frantic attempt to be detected on sonar.

But at up to 12,500ft – nearly two-and-a-half miles – below the surface, there are possibly just two vessels on Earth capable of rescuing them.

British billionaire Hamish Harding posted on social media about his trip in Titan to see the Titanic wreck just before the launch.

He said: 'I am proud to finally announce that I joined OceanGate Expeditions for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic.

'Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023.

'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 operations around 4am tomorrow morning. Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do.

'The team on the sub has a couple of legendary explorers, some of which have done over 30 dives to the RMS Titanic since the 1980s including PH Nargeolet.

'More expedition updates to follow IF the weather holds!'

Ever since Titan went missing on Sunday, there has been no indication as to what could possibly have gone wrong.

The submersible last 'pinged' while directly above the wreck, an hour and 45 minutes into a two-hour descent.

As there is no way of communicating with the sub, it is left to experts to predict what may have occurred.

Possible scenarios include a power blackout, a fire or even a catastrophic leak.

Read more here:

A submarine and rescue expert from Australia has told the BBC he is hopeful the missing Titanic tourist vessel could be at or near the surface of the ocean.

Frank Owen said his confidence rose significantly after hearing about the sounds detected by Canadian vessels and buoys on the surface of the sea.

He said: 'Firstly, on board this craft is a retired French navy diver. He would know the protocol for trying to alert searching forces… on the hour and the half hour you bang like hell for three minutes.'

He says the sound signal being picked by a buoy close to the surface also suggests that the sub itself could be near or at the surface.

'Below about 180 metres, the water temperature drops very rapidly. That creates a layer that the [sonar signal] bounces off. But if you’re in the same depth water it tends to go quite straight.'

The company which launched a submersible that has vanished on a mission to the Titanic's wreckage fired a director who raised concerns about its safety and also refused to have the craft independently inspected, DailyMail.com can reveal.

OceanGate bosses fired David Lochridge, who was Director of Marine operations for the Titan project, in 2018 after it disagreed with his demand for more rigorous safety checks on the submersible, including 'testing to prove its integrity'. 

The company also opted against having the craft 'classed', an industry-wide practice whereby independent inspectors ensure vessels meet accepted technical standards.

OceanGate, which charges up to $250,000 for a seat on the submersible, suggested that seeking classification could take years and would be 'anathema to rapid innovation'.

Titan is currently missing with five people on board after it lost communication during a dive to the Titanic's wreckage, which is around 12,500ft below the Atlantic. A frantic search and rescue operation is underway to locate and recover the submersible before its oxygen supply runs out.

Read more: 

See MailOnline's handy graphic which explains everything there is to know about the race against time to find the missing craft.

OceanGate Expeditions, the company that runs the tours of the Titanic, is coming under fire as it emerged it took eight hours to alert coastguards to its vessel's plight.

It was reported to the US Coastguard at 5.40pm on Sunday and Canada's Coastguard was alerted even later, at 9.13pm.

But the last time Titan had contact with its mothership was 9.45am.

The Explorers' Club, of which missing Brit Hamish Harding is a founding member, shared an upbeat message on Wednesday morning.

President Richard Garriot de Cayeux said in a statement: '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.

'They precisely understand the experienced personnel and tech we can help deploy... We believe they are doing everything possible with all the resources they have.'

Mr Garriot de Cayeux said they are ready to provide the UK-based Magellan's remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that is certified to travel as deep as 6,000m.

In a statement on their website, deep water specialists Magellan said they were contacted by OceanGate on Monday and 'immediately' offered knowledge of the site and expertise in operating at depth.

The company added that it has been working with UK and US agencies to move its specialist equipment and support crew to St John's, Newfoundland, following instructions to mobilise from OceanGate.

'Magellan is 100% focused on supporting the rescue mission to recover the submersible,' the organisation said.

The tourist Titan submarine may be entering its final 24 hours of breathable air as rescue efforts continue.

At 6pm UK time on Tuesday, officials said the craft had around 40 hours of oxygen left. If accurate, that would mean the crew have just a day left to be found and brought to the surface.

James Cameron, director of the Titanic movie, warned of the dangers of visiting the legendary shipwreck after making 33 dives to the bottom of the ocean to film his smash hit. 

'You’re going into one of the most unforgiving places on earth,' the Academy Award-winning director said in a 2012 interview. 

'It’s not like you can call up AAA to come get you,' he warned.  

The comments have resurfaced as an enormous search mission looks for a group of five missing Titanic tourists.

The missing OceanGate submersible, the Titan, lost contact with the mothership during its descent to the shipwreck Sunday morning. That sparked an international response to find the missing ship before air runs out.

Read more: 

A former employee of OceanGate had raised concerns over 'safety and quality control issues regarding the Titan to OceanGate executive management', according to court filings.

David Lochridge, OceanGate's former director of marine operations, claimed in the August 2018 court document he was wrongfully fired after flagging worries about the company's alleged 'refusal to conduct critical, non-destructive testing of the experimental design'.

After 'issues of quality control' with Titan were raised, the filings say Mr Rush asked Mr Lochridge to conduct a 'quality inspection' report on the vessel.

During this process, Mr Lochridge 'identified numerous issues that posed serious safety concerns' but he was allegedly 'met with hostility and denial of access' to necessary documents before later being fired.

Rescue teams are racing against the breathable air clock after noises were detected from the search area for the missing deep-sea vessel near the wreck site of the Titanic.

The submersible, named Titan, lost communication with tour operators on Sunday while about 435 miles south of St John's, Newfoundland, during a voyage to the shipwreck off the coast of Canada.

The Titan has five people on board, including British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, and the 6.7m (22ft) long OceanGate Expeditions vessel may have as little as 24 hours of oxygen left.

The others on board are Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman and OceanGate's chief executive and founder Stockton Rush, reportedly together with French submersible pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet.

The US Coast Guard on Wednesday morning said: 'Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater noises in the search area. As a result, ROV (remote operating vehicles) 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 US Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans.'

The US and Canadian coastguards have both sent extra ships to the site of the search for the missing Titan tourist submarine.

At least five vessels are on the scene, with further ships expected to arrive throughout the day.

This includes a nearby French research vessel, L'Atalante.

The Royal Canadian Navy ship HMCS Glace Bay is also on the way, but is not expected to arrive until Thursday at midday.

The ship has a team of specialised medics and a six-person mobile hyperbaric recompression chamber, designed to prevent decompression sickness, in case the Titan is found in time.

Made of titanium and filament wound carbon fiber, the Titan weighs 20,000 pounds (9,072 kilograms) in the air, but is ballasted to be neutrally buoyant once it reaches the seafloor, the company said.

Titan is capable of diving four kilometers (2.4 miles) 'with a comfortable safety margin,' according to documents filed by the company in April with a US District Court in Virginia that oversees Titanic matters.

At the time of the filing, Titan had undergone more than 50 test dives, including to the equivalent depth of the Titanic, in deep waters off the Bahamas and in a pressure chamber, the company said.

OceanGate has described the Titan as 'the largest of any deep diving submersible' with an 'unparalleled safety feature' that assesses the integrity of the hull throughout every dive.

But experts have previously raised concerns about the vessel's safety.

Searchers have changed the location where they are focussing their efforts after regular 'banging' noises were picked up by sonar.

The sounds, which are said to be occurring every 30 minutes, were first reported overnight after a US memo was leaked.

Rescuers have moved their remotely operated vehicle to a different location after monitoring the sounds.

But it is impossible to know for certain whether the banging sounds are being made by those in the missing vessel.

A thrill-seeker who intended to join billionaire Hamish Harding on the missing Titanic sub pulled out of the dive because he thought OceanGate was 'cutting too many corners', it has emerged.

Chris Brown, 61, had paid the deposit to go on the doomed voyage, but says he changed his mind after becoming concerned by the quality of technology and materials used in the vessel, The Sun reported.

Among his concerns were OceanGate's use of 'old scaffolding poles' for the ballast and the fact that its controls were 'based on computer game-style controllers'.

He told the newspaper that despite being 'one of the first people to sign up for this trip', he ultimately decided the 'risks were too high'.

Mr Brown added that he feels 'really upset about Hamish', who is among the five passengers on the submersible, called the Titan, that are currently missing. 

Read more:

A businessman who has made the deep-sea voyage to the wreck of the Titanic has expressed confidence in the Titan crew and said 'there's a very good chance they will be found'.

Oisin Fanning told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he had been on the submersible with pilot Paul-Henri Nargeolet and OceanGate chief executive and founder Stockton Rush, who are both reportedly on board the missing vessel.

'The two guys on the sub currently, so Paul and Stockton, are both consummate professionals,' he said.

'I mean, to be honest, if I was in trouble, I'd want to be on a sub with them.'

Mr Fanning continued: 'They will be conserving energy from day one. So I wouldn't be surprised if the action lasts a lot longer because they'll know exactly what to do.

'I mean, you're talking about people who have dived to the Titanic alone 38, 40 times - you know, their career's about diving.'

They will be advising the people on board with them 'not to panic', he added.

'I think there's a very good chance they will be found. These are not fly-by-nighters, these are very highly professional people.'

Experts in submersible vehicles wrote a letter warning the CEO of OceanGate that their approach could end in 'disaster' years before their vessel vanished.

The company's craft, the Titan, is currently missing with five people on board after it lost communication during a dive to the Titanic's wreckage.

A frantic search and rescue operation is underway to locate and recover the submersible before its 96-hour oxygen supply runs out.

Leaders in the submersible industry sent a letter to OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush – who is currently missing along with the vessel – urging him to take caution.

The letter, obtained by the New York Times, warned that 'the current 'experimental' approach' of the company could result in problems 'from minor to catastrophic.'

Read more here:

British deep sea investigator firm Magellan has been assisting with efforts to search for the missing Titanic tourist vessel.

Magellan was contacted by OceanGate on Monday and 'immediately offered our knowledge of the specific site and also our expertise operating at depth considerably in advance of what is required for this incident', the BBC reports.

A spokesperson added: 'We have been working full-time with UK and US agencies to secure the necessary air support to move our specialist equipment and support crew.

'We are ready to support, and we are fully mobilised to help.'

The company has a range of underwater robots which may be used in the operation.

Dik Barton, the first British diver to see the Titanic wreck, said it is a 'dangerous' and 'hostile' place to be.

He told ITV's Good Morning Britain he has '100%' felt in danger during previous expeditions to the wreck site.

Mr Barton told the programme he is friends with Paul-Henry Nargeolet, reported to be on board the missing vessel, and referred to him as 'PH'.

'PH is an extremely capable submersible operator pilot,' he said. 'He is a deep water explorationist, he's been down (to) the Titanic 37 times.

'I've worked with him extensively, I have enormous respect for him and his ability, and, quite frankly, if there's anybody I'd ever want to be in a position, God forbid, in this circumstance then it would be PH.

'He will be certainly doing all he possibly can to make sure everyone is calm and collected and waiting for recovery.'

Chris Parry, a retired navy rear admiral from the UK, said without an 'emitting signal' from the missing deep-sea vessel near the wreck site of the Titanic it will be 'impossible' to find in the timescale.

He told LBC: 'I'm afraid the odds are vanishingly small.

'Obviously, we want to remain hopeful and optimistic but there are two problems here - one is actually finding the thing and secondly is how on earth are you going to get it off the seabed. It's never been done before and I don't think anybody's got any ideas about how to do it at the moment.'

He added: 'You've got this vastly complex seabed with all the debris of the Titanic, you've got hills and canyons and everything, and I'm afraid to say without an emitting signal from the vehicle itself it's almost, well, I'd say it's impossible to find in the timescale.'

King Charles III is being kept fully up to date on the search for the missing Titanic tourist submarine, the Daily Mail's Royal Editor Rebecca English revealed last night.

His 'thoughts and prayers' are with all those involved in the incident.

Fears are growing that time is running out to save those onboard, with air predicted to last until tomorrow.

Chris Brown, an explorer and friend of British billionaire Hamish Harding, one of the five people trapped on board the Titan craft, said making 'banging sounds' is the kind of thing his missing friend would do.

He told BBC Breakfast: 'That is just the sort of thing I would have expected Hamish to come up with.'

He added: 'There's always hope. As an explorer, you never give up anyway.'

A battery of heavy machinery and submarines dubbed the 'last chance' for the crew of the Titan tourist submarine arrived in Canada tonight - but it now faces a race against time to help rescuers in the desperate search.

The array of winches, cables and unmanned vehicles capable of going 19,000 feet underwater were delivered to St John's airport in Newfoundland by three US Air Force cargo planes.

It was taken with a police escort to the port where a waiting ship, the Horizon Arctic, was due to set sail at midnight.

But with the 15-hour sea journey to the search area where five people were trapped underwater, it will arrive perilously close to the time when the Titan will run out of air.

The desperate hunt for the five men trapped on the lost Titan submersible has entered its make-or-break day as more ships set up above the Titanic wreck with time quickly running out to pull off the deepest undersea rescue mission ever.

Read more:

A renowned oceanographer David Gallo, who is a senior advisor at RMS Titanic Inc, said he was 'hopeful' following the detection of 'banging sounds' during the search for the missing submarine.

He said that search teams should not wait any longer and 'get assets there' immediately.

He told CNN: 'You can't wait to slowly prove that there is something there. You should assume that there is something there, and move things now because time is running out.'

Gallo is a good friend of one of the five stuck on board, French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, who he called a 'very good friend'.

He added: '[Paul-Henry] is the kind of person that if he were in that submarine, he would think this thoroughly through and would do something like that every 30 minutes.'

Memos from the internal US Department of Homeland Security have shown that the banging sounds underwater could be heard for hours after it was first detected.

Additional sonar was sent to the area four hours later where 'banging was still heard'.

A second memo, reported by CNN, said: 'Additional acoustic feedback was heard and will assist in vectoring surface assets and also indicating continued hope of survivors.'

The US coast guard has confirmed that a Canadian aircraft has detected underwater noises in the search area for the five men trapped on the lost Titan.

The search group are trying to now find where the noises are coming from.

In a Tweet it 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 desperate hunt for the five men trapped on the lost Titan submersible has entered its make-or-break day as more ships set up above the Titanic wreck with time quickly running out to pull off the deepest undersea rescue mission ever.

As rescuers scramble to pull off a miracle amid a dwindling oxygen supply for those aboard, experts fear that even if the craft automatically resurfaced as planned, the crew of five would still suffocate in hours because they can't physically open the hatch from the inside.

The bleak outlook comes as the US Coast Guard conceded in day two's press conference that even if the OceanGate Expeditions sub is located, it may be too late to save the five passengers.

Richard Garriot de Cayeux, President of The Explorers Club, confirmed in a Tuesday night social media post that 'there is cause for hope' in the search for the crew on a missing sub at the Titanic site. 

In a statement he said: 'We have much greater confidence that 1) There is cause for hope, based on data from the field - we understand that likely signs of life have been detected at the site.' 

His posts come after a Canadian aircraft reported hearing 'banging sounds' on sonar as it flew overhead. 

It's unclear when the banging sounds were hurt, and officials have not confirmed the reports or said they have found the crew that has been stuck in the deep Atlantic Ocean since the submersible launched Sunday and quickly lost contact with others. 

A Florida couple sued OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, saying he took their $210,000 for a trip to the wreckage but delayed the trip for years and then refused to refund their money.

Marc and Sharon Hagle sued Rush, accusing him of selling the adventure knowing it was not on schedule and refusing to refund their cash.

They claim the trip was postponed by a year three times due to testing requirements and unspecified 'equipment failure.' That led them to file a lawsuit to try and get their money back.

Rush is believed to be one of the people aboard a current submersible that has gone missing during a trip to the Titanic wreck site in the Atlantic Ocean. Four other people were on board, and rescue crews are frantically trying to get to the scene before the adventurers run out of air.

Chris Brown, 61, had paid the deposit to go on the doomed voyage, but says he changed his mind after becoming concerned by the quality of technology and materials used in the vessel, The Sun reported.

Among his concerns were OceanGate's use of 'old scaffolding poles' for the ballast and the fact that its controls were 'based on computer game-style controllers'.

He told the newspaper that despite being 'one of the first people to sign up for this trip', he ultimately decided the 'risks were too high'.

Mr Brown added that he feels 'really upset about Hamish', who is among the five passengers on the submersible, called the Titan, that are currently missing. 

Brit Hamish Harding gave an ominous message before heading down on a submersible towards the Titanic, where he and four other people await rescue as they run out of air. 

In a recent interview with a Dubai-based media outlet Harding spoke of 'taking steps before they go wrong.'

'I believe you make your own luck in life. You create the environment around you, where luck comes or doesn't come, based on your decisions, your anticipation of things going wrong, and taking steps before they go wrong,' he said. 

The Titan vessel that went missing shortly after it launched on Sunday is a submersible, not a submarine.

A submarine has enough power to leave its port and come back, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

But a submersible does not have the same power or range.

It relies on a mothership to launch and for support during the mission. The mothership is also needed for the submersible to return.

King Charles has asked to be 'kept fully up to date' on the missing submersible situation, Rebecca English has revealed.

She was told that Charles' 'thoughts and prayers are with the Dawood family and all those involved in this incident and the attempted recovery operations.'

A shocking graphic has revealed how the missing Titanic submersible could be stuck on the ocean floor in waters more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon.

Rescuers are in a race against time to find the sub and the five people on board, with their oxygen supply due to run out within the next 50 hours.

But just how far into the deep blue could they be?

The five passengers on board last 'pinged' the mothership at 10am EST on Monday, while directly above their destination of the Titanic.

This could indicate that they are now somewhere on the ocean floor, with the wreckage split in two halves at around 12,500ft below the surface.

To put this into comparison, MailOnline has created a graphic showing how this depth compares to famously tall structures.

It reveals how landmarks that are famous for their height pale in comparison to this - with the Statue of Liberty at just 305ft (106m), the Eiffel Tower at 1,083ft (316m) and the Empire State Building at 1,250ft (411m).

British billionaire Hamish Harding's company, Dubai-based Action Aviation, released a statement on Tuesday saying it has 'great faith and trust' in the rescue missions as the CEO runs out of oxygen.

'Both the Harding family and the team at Action Aviation are very grateful for all the kind messages of concern and support from our friends and colleagues,' it said.

'We are thankful for the continued efforts of the authorities and companies that have stepped in to aid in the rescue efforts. We put great faith and trust in their expertise.'

The missing submersible resembles a 'kit car' built from 'parts you can get from Amazon', a former Royal Navy admiral said today.

Chris Parry described the small craft, named Titan, as 'very flimsy and fragile' - as a journalist who once sat inside claimed it features lights from a camping shop, off the shelf CCTV cameras and salvaged metal pipes for ballast.

The sub - which consists of a five-inch thick carbon fiber tube about the size of a minivan with a 22-inch Plexiglas window at one end - is said to be controlled using a modified PlayStation controller.

It does not have a GPS system and uses Elon Musk's Starlink to communicate with a communications and tracking team on its mothership, MV Polar Prince, via short text messages.

The sub is meant to communicate with the main ship - which in 2005 was listed on eBay with a reserve price of $1million - every 15 minutes to inform the team of its location.

There are no seats and only one toilet - a small black box containing Ziploc bags - with a black curtain drawn across and music played for privacy.

OceanGate fired a director who raised concerns about its safety and also refused to have the craft independently inspected, DailyMail.com can reveal.

OceanGate bosses fired David Lochridge, who was Director of Marine operations for the Titan project, in 2018 after it disagreed with his demand for more rigorous safety checks on the submersible, including 'testing to prove its integrity'.

The company also opted against having the craft 'classed', an industry-wide practice whereby independent inspectors ensure vessels meet accepted technical standards.

OceanGate, which charges up to $250,000 for a seat on the submersible, suggested that seeking classification could take years and would be 'anathema to rapid innovation'.

The US Coast Guard has given the bleak warning that it may not be able to rescue the missing Titanic tourist sub even if it is able to find it.

The Titan submersible has been missing since 9.45am on Sunday morning after being launched into the Atlantic at 8am.

At 12,500ft underwater, there are few vessels able to dive deeply enough to find it.

The only ones able to search the ocean floor are remotely operated vehicles. They are currently on their way to the site.

'Even with that amount of time left, if you were to find the submersible at this moment, would that give you enough time to save those five people on board?' Captain Frederick was asked.

'I don't know the answer to that question... all I know is we will do everything within our power to effect a rescue.'

If they find the sub, getting it to the surface is another feat entirely, requiring specialist equipment that is not yet on-site.

'This is a very complex search and the unified team is working around the clock to bring all available expertise and assets available to solve this very complex problem,' Frederick added.

Captain Jamie Frederick with the Coast Guard said the occupants of the missing Titan submersible have about 40-41 hours of oxygen left on the vessel.

The Coast Guard is holding a press conference today in Boston. 

The sub was on its way to view the Titanic wreckage nearly 13,000 feet down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, when it lost communication with its mothership and vanished. 

The Coast Guard is providing an update on the missing submersible now in Boston. 

Five people are on board the Titan submersible that launched on Sunday to view the Titanic wreck.

OceanGate, the tourist company responsible for the missing submersible with five people on board, took eight hours to report it to the Coast Guard on Sunday, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The company's Titan vessel submerged at 8am on Sunday morning around 400 miles southeast of St John's, Newfoundland.

At 9.45am - an hour and 45 minutes into the dive - it lost contact with its mothership, the Polar Prince.

But it wasn't reported as missing to the US Coast Guard until 5.40pm, eight hours later. Canada 's Coast Guard wasn't alerted until even later - 9.13pm on Sunday night.

Now, experts say the crew - who have around 45 hours of oxygen left - have just a one percent chance of survival.

The Coast Guard will hold a press conference at 1pm on Tuesday as the search continues for the missing submersible that vanished on Sunday.

Canadian research vessel Polar Prince lost contact with their submersible during a dive to see the Titanic wreck, approximately 900 miles east of Cape Cod.

An experienced diver who has traveled far into the depths of the ocean to view the Titanic wreckage fears the submersible that vanished on Sunday may have imploded thousands of feet underwater.

G. Michael Harris, who said he possibly knows three of the five occupants on board the missing sub, told Fox News ' Jesse Watters he is not optimistic they will be rescued and believes there is nothing the U.S. Navy can do.

'Worst situation is something happened to the hull and our fear is that it imploded at around 3,200 meters,' (10,000 feet) Harris said.

At those depths, the weight of the water would exert extreme pressure on the missing submersible - around 6,000 pounds on each square inch of its hull.

An implosion would mean any hope is already long gone. If any part of the submersible's carbon-fiber and titanium hull had suffered a small crack or fault, a deadly implosion would have followed after.

'When you're talking 6,000 pounds per square inch, it is a dangerous environment. More people have been to outer-space than to this depth of the ocean. When you're diving in these situations you have to cross your T and dot your Is. You have to do everything absolutely perfect and by the book.'

'Throw in a bunch of tourists in a new sub, which was just created in the last couple of years,' Harris continued. 'It's not looking good.

The US Coast Guard said they have searched 10,000 square miles for the missing submersible, since it went missing on Sunday.

A Canadian Aircraft P3 Aurora arrived on scene this morning to conduct sonar searches.

Surface searches are also continuing.

The search continues for the sub with five people on board, who are now cut off from the world in claustrophobic conditions.

Thanks to previous reports on the Titan's deep-sea missions, we have a clear idea of what it is like for those trapped inside the submarine, where time is running out.

In addition to the dwindling 96-hour oxygen supply, the passengers could also be facing increasingly cold conditions, and could suffer from hypothermia.

There are also no seats and only one toilet - a small black box - with a black curtain drawn across for privacy. All passengers are barefoot and must sit on the floor.

Assuming that the vessel is still intact, they currently have no communication to the outside world, and so no knowledge if and when anyone will reach them.

Shahzada Dawood, 48, a board member of the Prince's Trust charity, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, are among the five people trapped on the submarine.

They were on board the tiny underwater craft taking paying tourists to view the famous wreck 12,500ft underwater when they lost signal in the dark depths of the Atlantic Ocean, 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Their desperate family, including Shahzada's wife Christine and daughter Alina, are now enduring an agonizing wait for any news of the pair - hoping in vain that they could somehow be found thousands of feet underwater before the oxygen onboard runs out in around 50 hours.

From the heady heights of space to the deepest depths of the ocean and everything in-between, British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding has led a life of daring.

Born in Hammersmith, West London, the 58-year-old runs an airplane company in Dubai, catering to the needs of the world's wealthiest people by selling and buying jets.

His business has seen him rack up a vast personal fortune - but his adventures outside of the corporate world are what have made him stand out from the crowd.

Read the full story on MailOnline here:

No10 said the Foreign Office is in contact with the family of Hamish Harding, as the rescue operation for the tourist submersible off the coast of Canada continues.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'The FCDO are in contact with Hamish Harding's family and the local authorities.

'We stand ready to provide any additional assistance, including as our capacity as the host nation for Nato's multinational submarine rescue capacity.'

Downing Street also said the Government was ready to provide support and assistance, but was not aware of a request from the family of Hamish Harding for help.

'We are ready to provide assistance. At this stage I'm not aware they've specifically requested assistance from our capacity, which is based in Clyde in the the naval base there.

'Clearly it is a complex rescue mission at significant depth,' the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.

'We would wait to see what may or may not be required.

'We are in contact with the relevant authorities and are ready to provide assistance, but clearly it is an unusual rescue operation given the depths involved.'

Rishi Sunak's thoughts are with the families of those involved, his spokesman said today as a rescue operation continues after a submersible tourist vessel went missing during a voyage to the Titanic shipwreck off the coast of Canada.

A British billionaire is among five people aboard.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'The families involved will be deeply concerned and his thoughts are with them and the Foreign Office is providing support.'

He said that the Prime Minister 'clearly wants to pass on his thanks to those that are responding' to the situation.

A former TV journalist has told how he 'almost died' in a submarine that got stuck in the wreck of the Titanic.

While efforts continue to find them before the oxygen runs out, former ABC science editor Michael Guillen revealed his own terrifying experience in 2000 when he became the first TV correspondent to get into a sub to visit the wreck - which sits two and half miles under the surface of the Atlantic Ocean off Newfoundland.

Read the full story on MailOnline here:

It was in 1912 when the 'unsinkable' Titanic sank after crashing into a colossal iceberg.

As it descended into the North Atlantic, more than 1,500 lives were taken while thousands of treasures were lost to sea.

Some of the wealthiest people in the world were onboard at the time including Isidor Straus, the co-owner of the famous Macy's department store.

While 111 years have passed, Titanic researchers continue to find new objects today - whether it be a megalodon shark tooth necklace or 1,200 teapots.

Here, MailOnline has compiled a list of five priceless artefacts that went down with the historic liner and are still assumed to be in the wreckage:

Vital equipment needed to rescue a missing submersible that disappeared while heading to the Titanic wreck is being held up by US officials who have failed to approve paperwork, a tourism company has claimed.

Rescue attempts are said to be being hampered by US government bureaucracy, with a plane of equipment on the island of Guernsey being unable to take off for the scene until paperwork is signed.

Read the full story on MailOnline:

A desperate search mission involving a remotely operated vehicle is under way to rescue a Titanic tourist submersible which has vanished 12,500ft below the Atlantic Ocean with around 70 hours of air left.

The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, said the OceanGate Expeditions vessel carrying five passengers, including British billionaire Hamish Harding, went missing at around 9.13pm on Sunday, about 435 miles (700 kilometres) south of St. John's, Newfoundland.

If they can be found, the operation would be 11,000ft deeper than the deepest successful undersea rescue in history - when British engineers Roger Mallinson and Roger Chapman survived after their submersible Pisces III was trapped on the seabed at a depth of 1,575ft off the south-west coast of Ireland in 1973.

Read the full story on MailOnline:

A friend of the British billionaire missing on a trip to dive to the Titanic has said she fears his submersible is trapped on the sea bed.

Jannicke Mikkelsen, a Norwegian explorer, said she knew Hamish Harding, 58, would be 'calm' amid the crisis.

He is one of five people on board a submersible, which at 4am on Sunday, began its descent to the resting place of the Titanic, nearly 13,000 feet below the surface.

Read the full story on MailOnline here:

No-one can forget the terrible fate of the 118 crew on board the Russian navy submarine Kursk, which sank between Russia and Norway 23 years ago.

They all were dead when divers finally arrived eight long days later. And the Kursk was a relatively modest 350ft down.

Yet there is cause for hope, too – thanks to the astonishing tale of the Pisces III in August 1973.

Read the full feature from Neil Sears on MailOnline here:

Sky News is reporting that the Ministry of Defence has released a statement, saying 'they are monitoring the incident but the depths of water greatly exceed those at which the Nato submarine rescue system can safely operate'.

A friend of the British billionaire trapped inside a submarine missing on a voyage to the Titanic wreck has revealed the last text he was sent one day before heading out.

Retired Nasa astronaut Colonel Terry Virts, a friend of the missing Hamish Harding, said his fellow explorer had messaged him to say: 'Hey, we're headed out tomorrow, it looks good, the weather's been bad so they've been waiting for this.'

As rescue teams continued the search for the submersible vessel with five people aboard, Colonel Virts added that he and Mr Harding 'don't really talk about risks'.

Read the full story on MailOnline here:

The missing submersible that vanished with five people on board is controlled by a PlayStation controller and has one window for explorers to peer out of.

Authorities are currently searching for OceanGate’s 22ft carbon fiber and titanium vessel called the Titan after it vanished on Sunday, while taking a trip to view the Titanic wreckage

This is based on the Coastguard’s estimation that those on board have 72 hours of oxygen left on board – with the carrier having a ‘life support’ of 96 hours.

Read the full story on MailOnline here:

An expert on the history of the Titanic has said he is 'very worried about the souls' on board the missing submersible.

Tim Maltin, an author, historian and TV presenter said the tourists were in a difficult situation.

Mr Maltin said on BBC Breakfast: 'If it's near the Titanic it would be easier to find, but the problem is of course you can't do a ship-to-ship transfer even, the pressure is absolutely intense.

'It's nearly two miles miles down, it's pitch black. So I also am very, very worried about the souls who are on board.'

He added: 'I think they're quite brave people who have been down there, but equally they know the risks but no one expects it to go wrong on your dive.'

A writer who took the Titanic submersible trip last year said he is 'not optimistic' over the search for the missing OceanGate craft.

Mike Reiss told BBC Breakfast communication was also lost during his dive down to the Titanic.

Mr Reiss said: 'I'm not optimistic just because I know the logistics of it. And I know really again, how vast the ocean is, and how very tiny the craft is.

He added: 'So the idea is, if it's down at the bottom, I don't know how anyone's going to be able to access it, much less bring it back up. There is a hope that it's at, or near, the surface.

'I did three separate dives. I did one dive to the Titanic and two more off the coast of New York. Every time they lost communication and again, this is not a shoddy ship or anything.'

Here is the Daily Mail's front page today, which leads on the desperate search for British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding on the submarine:

Let's start with a look at MailOnline's top story today, which is the news that one of Pakistan's richest men and his teenage son are also among the five people missing in the submarine that set off to see the wreck of the Titanic.

Shahzada Dawood, 48, a UK-based board member of the Prince's Trust charity, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, were on board the small underwater craft taking paying tourists to view the famous wreck.

Read the full story from MailOnline's Martin Robinson and Rachael Bunyan here:

Good morning and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage as rescue teams continue the search for a submersible tourist vessel which went missing during a voyage to the Titanic shipwreck with a British billionaire among the five people aboard.

Hamish Harding is one of the mission specialists on the five-person OceanGate Expeditions vessel reported overdue on Sunday evening about 435 miles south of St John's, Newfoundland.

A major search and rescue operation, which is being led by the US Coast Guard and involving military aircraft 900 miles east of Cape Cod, was continuing this morning.

Stay with MailOnline throughout today as the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince and 106 Rescue wing continue to conduct surface searches along with two C-130 flights.