Tourist Submersible Goes Missing Near Titanic Wreck, Search Ops Launched – News18

A search and rescue operation was launched after a submersible that used to take people to view the wreck of the Titanic went missing in the Atlantic Ocean on Monday.

The rescue operation is underway. However, it is yet to be ascertained how many people were on the board, BBC reported.

OceanGate Expeditions, a private company that deploys submersibles for deep sea expeditions, has not commented yet on missing reports. The company charges guests USD 250,000 for a place on its 8-day expedition to see the wreck.

The Titanic was on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City when it hit an iceberg off Newfoundland in the North Atlantic on April 15, 1912. The luxury ocean liner sank within hours, killing about 1,500 people.

The wreck, discovered in 1985, lies some 12,500 feet (3,800 meters) under the sea, about 435 miles (700 kilometers) off the coast of Canada.

Last month, deep-sea researchers have completed the first full-size digital scan of the Titanic, showing the entire wreck in unprecedented detail and clarity, the companies behind a new documentary on the wreck.

Using two remotely operated submersibles, a team of researchers spent six weeks last summer in the North Atlantic mapping the whole shipwreck and the surrounding 3-mile debris field, where personal belongings of the ocean liner’s passengers, such as shoes and watches, were scattered.

Richard Parkinson, founder and chief executive of deep-sea exploration firm Magellan, estimated that the resulting data — including 715,000 images — is 10 times larger than any underwater 3D model ever attempted before.

“It’s an absolutely one-to-one digital copy, a ‘twin,’ of the Titanic in every detail,” said Anthony Geffen, head of documentary maker Atlantic Productions.

(With AP inputs)