A search and rescue was underway Monday for a submarine that went missing in the North Atlantic on an expedition to explore the wreckage of the Titanic. Lt. Jordan Hart of the U.S. Coast Guard in Boston first confirmed to CBS News that personnel were “currently undergoing a search and rescue operation” The Small submersible disappeared while taking a crew of five people to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean to view the Titanic ship wreck. The search area is located about 720. Miles from Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the wreckage sits about 13000 feat below the surface. Coast guard officials say the 22 foot submersible carries enough oxygen for about four days and among the five people on board is according to family members is explorer and British billionaire Hamish Harding. The last communication from the vessel was from Sunday morning. On Monday afternoon, Rear Adm John Mauger of the U.S. Coast Guard said: “We anticipate there is somewhere between 70 and the full 96 hours available at this point.”
The vessel submerged Sunday morning, and its support vessel, the Canadian research icebreaker Polar Prince, lost contact with it about an hour an 45 minutes later, authorities said.
The Coast Guard is also working with military and civilian partners to develop a rescue plan if the vessel is located underway, Mauger said.
OceanGate Expeditions, a company offering eight-day missions to see the Titanic debris at a cost of $250,000 per person, confirmed that its submarine was lost at sea with crew members on board.
The company’s chief executive, Stockton Rush, previously described the craft as “rock solid”, is also believed to be on board.
The company said in a statement that it is “exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely.” OceanGate added that it was “deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible.”
The wreck of the Titanic is located about 600km (370 miles) off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, and it sits 3,800m (12,500ft) deep at the bottom of the Atlantic.
The passenger liner hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in 1912. Of the 2,200 passengers and crew onboard, more than 1,500 died.
The remains of the Titanic were discovered in 1985, and the site of the wreck has been extensively explored since then.
It lies in two parts, with the bow and the stern separated by about 800m (2,600ft). A huge debris field surrounds the broken vessel.
