Canadian military aircraft detected “underwater noises” as they were deployed to scour the North Atlantic Ocean for a missing submarine.
The United States (US) Coast Guard announced at 5:18am local time on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, that a Canadian aircraft searching for the submarine, named Titan, collected data indicating noise below the ocean’s surface.
However, the US Coast Guard said remotely operated vehicles that were relocated to “explore the origins of the noise” have so far “yielded negative results”.
“Additionally, the data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our U.S. Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans,” the First Coast Guard District said.
It is understood the search aircraft is a Lockheed CP-140 Aurora which is based on the Lockheed P-3C Orion.
In other possible signs of life, the Rolling Stone, reported on internal e-mail updates sent by the Department of Homeland Security’s National Operations Center, that the publication had obtained.
In the emails it said the Canadian “RCC Halifax launched a P8, Poseidon” which also has underwater detection capabilities.
“The P8 deployed sonobuoys, which reported a contact in a position close to the distress position. The P8 heard banging sounds in the area every 30 minutes. Four hours later additional sonar was deployed, and banging was still heard,” the email said.
Rolling Stone also stated that an email sent by the president of the travel and research group, the Explorers Society, had written possible “tapping sounds” may mean the submarine crew are “alive and signaling”.
In a press conference on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, Captain Jamie Frederick from the US Coast Guard told reporters that the five men in the submarine may only have 40 hours of air left on the vessel.
The Titan submarine began its descent to visit the Titanic wreckage on Sunday, June 18, 2023, but lost contact with the mother ship one hour and 45 minutes into its eight-hour trip.
It is understood that OceanGate Expeditions’ founder and CEO Stockton Rush, French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, explorer Hamish Harding, and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son are onboard Titan.
The group set off from St John’s, Newfoundland and were due to return eight-days later.