Search Underway for Missing Submarine that Takes People to See Titanic - 5 Lives at Stake

The Coast Guard is still searching for a Titanic tourist sub that went missing with five people on board. And now, experts are painting a grim picture regarding the rescue efforts.  

The vessel called The Titan began its dive to tour the wreckage of the Titanic on Sunday morning and lost contact with its support ship just 1 hour and 45 minutes into the journey. Now experts say the submarine's oxygen supplies are surely running low.

The Coast Guard says it's reaching a critical point in the search for the missing submersible carrying 5 people, including the pilot.

On Monday, Coast Guard crews scoured an area 900 miles off the coast of Massachusetts with water as deep as 13,000 feet making the search extremely difficult. If the vessel is on the ocean floor, the Titanic's debris field could make it difficult to locate.

The search is underway both underwater and from the sky. 

US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John W. Mauger said, "We need to make sure that we're looking both on the surface for the vessel if it had surfaced back to the water but had somehow lost communications with the vessel, and that's what the aircraft in the surface search vessel is allowing us to do right now." 

A ship left Newfoundland Canada on Friday carrying the submersible operated by Oceangate Expeditions. The sub started its voyage down to the Titanic on Sunday morning. When the support ship lost contact with the underwater vessel, the crew notified the Coast Guard. 

As of last Monday afternoon, officials estimate the people on the submersible would have between 70 and 96 hours of air left. 

"If they're not on the surface, it's a very hard problem because now they're two miles underwater," David Marquet, a former U.S. Navy submarine commander and retired captain, said. "Even the rescue submarines that we made for our warfighting submarines aren't designed to go that deep." 

Since 2021, Oceangate Expeditions has offered tourists paying roughly $250,000 a chance to travel with scientists studying the wreckage of the doomed ocean liner that lies about two miles beneath the surface. Among those on board, according to social media reports, are British billionaire Hamish Harding, a French diver, and a Pakistani father and son. 

The Titan's dive down to the Titanic wreckage, some 13,000 feet below the surface, is an 8 to 10-hour round trip. Coast Guard officials say they may have until Friday to find the vessel and rescue the crew members before their oxygen runs out.