Race against time as under 20 hours of oxygen left on missing Titanic sub

Updates have been offered by the US Coastguard as efforts to find a missing submersible off the coast of Canada ramp up.

With less than 20 hours of oxygen estimated to be remaining, Captain Jamie Frederick of the US Coastguard said authorities were in “close contact” with the families of those on the vessel.

The OceanGate Expeditions submersible, named Titan, lost communication on Sunday while about 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland, during a voyage to the Titanic shipwreck off the coast of Canada.

It has five people on board – British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman, OceanGate’s chief executive and founder Stockton Rush, reportedly together with French submersible pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet.

Earlier on Wednesday, a Canadian P-3 aircraft dropped sonar buoys into the ocean and detected “banging noises” leading to a small glimmer of hope.

However, at the press conference, Captain Frederick confirmed there had been no further information to suggest the sounds were man-made.

He told reporters that the area of the surface search has been expanded to more than 26,000 km², and the sub-surface search is 2.5 miles deep.

He a:dded “We have to remain optimistic and hopeful when we are in a search and rescue case.

“We are in the middle of the search and rescue case. Sometimes we don’t find what we’re looking for and you have to carefully consider all of the factors.

“There are a lot of factors you have to consider. After considering all those factors, sometimes you’re in a position where you have to make a tough decision. We’re not there yet.

“If we continue to search, potentially we could be at that point – and that’s a discussion we will have with the families long before I am going to discuss here publicly.”

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.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) also 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.