On Thursday, a French research ship equipped with an unmanned robot capable of searching deep underwater landed near the Titanic wreck to join a large search and rescue operation for a missing submarine.
According to the MarineTraffic website, the Atalante ship reached roughly two kilometres (1.2 miles) south of the Titanic wreck after 0800 GMT, with only hours of oxygen available for the five personnel onboard the submersible Titan.
As of 0900 GMT, it was traveling west in the North Atlantic at a pace of five knots.
The ship’s operator, the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER), had earlier stated that the Atalante would arrive at 0800 GMT after being immediately deployed from France on Tuesday.
The Victor 6000, a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) capable of diving to 6,000 metres, is aboard the ship.
The Titanic wreck is located at a depth of around 3,800 metres, making it exceptionally difficult to reach.
On Sunday morning, the Titan tourist submersible began its descent toward the wreck but lost communication with its support ship on the surface two hours later.
It carried British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani tycoon Shahzada Dawood, and his son Suleman, OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush, and French submarine operator Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
Rescuers believe the passengers will run out of oxygen on Thursday based on the sub’s capacity to hold up to 96 hours of emergency air.
Rescue operations have concentrated on determining the source of underwater noises detected late Sunday.
The British Antarctic Survey’s Rob Larter, a marine expert, told the media that the Victor 6000 was the main hope for underwater rescue.
According to Alistair Greig, a professor of marine engineering at University College London, the Victor 6000 include two manipulator arms that may be used to disentangle the Titan or connect a device that could raise it to the surface.
The robot also has powerful lights that allow it to see through the murk at such great depths.
However, scientists noted that the rescuers would need to know quite precisely where to seek Titan, which does not seem to be the case right now.
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