The chief executive and founder of OceanGate Expeditions, Stockton Rush was aboard the submersible as well as Pakistani millionaire Shahzada Dawood and
The clock is ticking on the five crew members of the Titan submersible, a privately owned craft operated by OceanGate Expeditions. The transport vessel Polar Prince lost contact with Titan just one hour and 45 minutes into the expedition on June 18.
The best guess by the U.S. Coast Guard is that the submersible had enough oxygen to sustain five people for around 96 hours. As of 5 p.m. Eastern time on June 19, the craft was believed to have 70 hours of oxygen left. That means the submersible would have enough oxygen to keep the crew alive until possibly Thursday — if some catastrophic failure resulted in the craft losing contact with the surface hadn’t already occurred.
Titan had no GPS and no radio. The submersible communicated with the Polar Prince via text messages.
The chief executive and founder of OceanGate Expeditions, Stockton Rush, was aboard the submersible as well as Pakistani millionaire Shahzada Dawood, his son Sulaiman, and UK businessman Hamish Harding. The passengers paid $250,000 each to dive down to the Titanic’s debris field, about 13,000 feet below the surface.
“Our entire focus is on the crew members in the submersible and their families,” OceanGate Expeditions said in a statement.
“We are 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 United States is cooperating with OceanGate Expedition in the rescue operation.
