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On Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard continued the search continued for a missing submersible that was taking five people to the wreckage of the Titanic, as crews continued to hear noises and were “actively searching” the area. A Canadian search plane detected noises underwater in the search area and were focused on finding the origin of the sounds. Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick said a plane heard the noises Wednesday morning as well: “With respect to the noises, specifically, we don’t know what they are, to be frank with you…We’re searching in the area where the noises were detected.” The search expanded on Thursday with a French ship deploying a deep-sea robot, or remote operated vehicle (ROV) to scan the seafloor. The U.S. Coast Guard’s Northeast district said in a tweet that the French vessel L’Atalante had reached the area and “deployed an ROV that has reached the sea floor and began its search for the missing sub. “
Capt. Frederick also said the team has two ROVs searching, plus several more expected to join the search operation into Thursday. Five vessels were searching for the sub on the water’s surface as of Wednesday afternoon, and that number was expected to double to 10 within 24 to 48 hours, Frederick said. The Titan is believed to have carried enough oxygen to last the crew 96 hours, which means it could run out Thursday morning if it hasn’t already.
U.S. and Canadian search crews rushed to find the missing group after they were originally reported missing on Sunday. Five people are on the sub, including three tourists, a veteran French explorer and the owner of OceanGate Stockton Rush, who was piloting the sub in the north Atlantic Ocean. A Canadian research vessel lost contact with the 21-foot sub an hour and 45 minutes into its dive Sunday morning about 900 nautical miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It had been expected to resurface Sunday afternoon.
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