Rescuers are expanding their search into deeper waters as they hunt for a submersible that went missing near the wreck of the Titanic.
The US Coast Guard and other search and rescue crews have swarmed a remote area in the Atlantic in search for the vessel, called Titan, which went missing on Sunday with five people on board.
Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger told CNN: “As we continue on with this search … we’ve been working through the night with a broad group of partners to bring all capabilities to bear looking on both the surface and now expanding to a subsurface in the area.”
Rescuers face a race against time to find the missing submersible as its oxygen supply dwindles.
It is understood from the vessel’s operator, OceanGate Expeditions, Titan had a 96-hour oxygen supply in case of emergencies – meaning the people on board have around two days of “life support” left.
The five people on board are British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, chief executive and founder of OceanGate Expeditions Stockton Rush, andFrench submersible pilot Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
Image: Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman
Image: Stockton Rush
Image: Hamish Harding. Pic: Photo by Joe Marino/UPI/Shutterstock
A major search and rescue operation is taking place some 435 miles south of Newfoundland, Canada, involving the US Coast Guard as well as Canadian and US aircraft.
Advertisement
The Canadian research icebreaker Polar Prince, which was supporting the Titan, reportedly lost contact with the vessel about an hour and 45 minutes after it submerged.
The wreckage of the Titanic that sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg lies at about 12,500 feet (3,810 metres).
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
4:28
‘We’re in unknown territory’
The Titan submersible usually takes two hours to descend to the wreck.
‘Terrified if they are stuck at bottom of ocean’
Jannicke Mikkelsen, an explorer and friend of Hamish Harding, told Sky News that she was “terrified” if the submersible was stuck at the bottom of the sea.
However, she said that she believed Mr Harding would be an “important asset” to the others in the submersible.
“Hamish will definitely be an important asset to the team, and I have no doubt he will be calm and collected,” she said.
Image: Jannicke Mikkelsen, an explorer and friend of Hamish Harding
“And he will go through the emergency checklists and procedures together with the captain of the submersible.
“He will also be a good inspiration to the rest of the team to keep calm. I really believe Hamish is the one that can help lead this team – because he has been in tricky situations in the past on expeditions.
She added: “I’m terrified if they are stuck at the bottom of the ocean with 96 hours of air and not able to get back to the surface – this is what I fear the most.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:36
Missing sub: Timelapse shows marine traffic
Could the Titan have moved close to the surface?
But it was still unclear whether the vessel had resurfaced – or how close to the surface it might have got.
It could have got entangled in the Titanic wreak, it could have sunk deeper, or it could float eventually to the surface.
If the sub got into trouble and warning alerts were triggered, emergency measures should have been implemented to bring the submersible to the surface, Sky News understands.
These would have included dropping weights to bring the sub slowly to the surface.
It is unknown if there was an automatic system on board or when systems would automatically trigger the release.
Additionally measures including adding air to ballast tanks would also have helped bring the submersible to the surface.
In a worst-case scenario, if the sub’s pressure hull imploded, there would have been no survivors.
It was one sentence among the many words Donald Trump spoke this week that caught my attention.
Midway through a jaw-dropping news conference where he sensationally claimed to have “found an answer on autism”, he said: “Bobby (Kennedy) wants to be very careful with what he says, but I’m not so careful with what I say.”
The US president has gone from pushing the envelope to completely unfiltered.
Last Sunday, moments after Charlie Kirk‘s widow Erika had publicly forgiven her husband’s killer, Mr Trump told the congregation at his memorial service that he “hates his opponents”.
Image: President Donald Trump embraces Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika. Pic: AP
The president treats professional disapproval not as a liability but as evidence of authenticity, fuelling the aura that he is a challenger of conventions.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
“I’m really good at this stuff. Your countries are going to hell,” he told his audience, deriding Europe’s approach to immigration as a “failed experiment of open borders”.
Image: Mr Trump addresses the UN General Assembly in New York. Pic: Reuters
Then came a U-turn on Ukraine, suggesting the country could win back all the land it has lost to Russia.
Most politicians would be punished for inconsistency, but Mr Trump recasts this as strategic genius – framing himself as dictating the terms.
It is hard to keep track when his expressed hopes for peace in Ukraine and Gaza are peppered with social media posts condemning the return of Jimmy Kimmel to late-night television.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:29
Trump’s major shift in Ukraine policy
Perhaps most striking of all is his reaction to the indictment of James Comey, the FBI director he fired during his first term.
In theory, this should raise questions about the president’s past conflicts with law enforcement, but he frames it as vindication, proof that his enemies fall while he survives.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:49
Ex-FBI chief: ‘Costs to standing up to Trump’
Mr Trump has spent much of his political career cultivating an image of a man above the normal consequences of politics, law or diplomacy, but he appears to feel more invincible than ever.
Russia has launched a massive drone attack on Ukraine’s capital this morning, injuring at least six people, Kyiv’s military administration has said.
Poland closed the airspace near two of its southeastern cities, Lublin and Rzeszow, as its air force scrambled jets in response to Russia’s attack on Kyiv.
Drones flew over Kyiv and anti-aircraft fire rang out through the night in what independent monitors said was one of the biggest strikes on the city since the Ukraine war began in February 2022.
The attack started at around 6am local time and many regions across the country are under air raid alert.
Some residents have fled to metro stations deep underground for safety as the attack continues.
Poland said it had closed its airspace near the two cities until at least 4am GMT due to “unplanned military activity related to ensuring state security”, flight tracking service Flightradar24 said.
“In connection with the activity of the Russian Federation’s long-range aviation carrying out strikes on the territory of Ukraine, Polish and allied aircraft have begun operating in our airspace,” the military said in a post on X.
More from World
It described the actions as preventive and aimed at securing airspace and protecting citizens.
It comes as Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was expected to address allegations made against Moscow that it has violated the airspace of several of its neighbours in recent weeks, as he spoke in New York at the 80th UN General Assembly.
During his address, Mr Lavrov, who has been Russia’s foreign minister for 21 years, says his country had no intention of attacking any NATO or EU member state but warned of a “decisive response” if any “aggression” was directed towards Moscow.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Vladimir Putin’s top diplomat says Russia has no intention of attacking any NATO or EU member state but warned of a “decisive response” if any “aggression” was directed towards Moscow.
Sergei Lavrov, Russia‘s foreign minister of 21 years, was speaking in New York at the 80th UN General Assembly, where he said threats against his country by Western nations were becoming “increasingly common”.
He was expected to address allegations made against Moscow that it has violated the airspace of several of its neighbours in recent weeks, heightening tensions across Europe.
Romania and Latvia also reported that single Russian drones had violated their airspace this month.
“Threats of force against Russia, accused of practically planning an attack on the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union, are becoming increasingly common,” Mr Lavrov said in New York.
More on Nato
Related Topics:
“President Putin has repeatedly debunked such provocations. Russia has never had and does not have such intentions, but any aggression against my country will be met with a decisive response.”
At the start of the week, US President Donald Trump told the UN that NATO nations should shoot down Russian planes in their airspace.
‘They will regret it’
After his UN address, Mr Lavrov held a news conference, where he insisted again that Moscow “has nothing to hide” over the allegations against it.
He was then asked by US correspondent Mark Stone what the Kremlin’s response would be if a nation shot down a Russian drone or plane in Russian airspace.
“Try to understand that a drone, when it is flying not over our territory, but if it crosses someone’s border but has left our airspace, probably everyone has the right to do with that drone whatever they consider necessary to ensure their security.
“But if there are attempts to shoot down any flying object, or indeed any object at all, on our territory, in our airspace, then I think people will seriously regret it, undertaking such a gross violation of our territorial integrity, our sovereignty.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:11
Watch: Sergei Lavrov answers Sky News question in New York
‘Hypocrisy’ over Gaza comments
At the start of his UN speech, Mr Lavrov took time to criticise Israel’s actions in the Middle East, accusing it of trying to “blow up” the region and saying it had “no justification” for the “brutal killings” of Palestinians in Gaza.
“The illegal use of force against the Palestinians and aggressive actions against Iran, Qatar, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq today threaten to blow up the entire Middle East.”
He also hit out at Israeli plans to annex the West Bank: “There is no justification for plans to annex the West Bank. This is essentially a coup d’etat in diplomatic terms.”
Israel has repeatedly claimed that it does not target civilians in Gaza and says its military actions across the Middle East are strategically vital for its self-defence.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:44
Mark Stone reflects on Sergei Lavrov’s UN address
Mark Stone said Mr Lavrov’s comments on Israel’s actions will be seen as highly hypocritical given Russia’s war in Ukraine which began in February 2022.
“Lavrov said Israel is bombing schools, it is bombing hospitals in Gaza,” Stone said.
“Well, remember Mariupol and the rest of those cities in Ukraine, where Russia has and continues to do just the same thing? There’s a certain hypocrisy there, for sure.”