As previously reported, the US Coast Guard is leading the rescue operations in an attempt to locate a missing submersible that vanished on Sunday morning while on a voyage to the wreckage of the infamous Titanic.
There are reportedly five people on board the submersible, which is believed to have around 30 hours of oxygen left at the time of writing.
The expedition is led by OceanGate Expeditions, who built the submersible, known as Titan, to withstand a depth of up to 13,120 feet, with the Titanic wreckage lying at around 12,500 feet.
The search for the missing vessel has thus far been unfruitful, but the last ping sent by the sub provides a picture of its last known whereabouts.
As reported by the Times, the vessel sent a ping back to its mother ship, Polar Prince, every 15 minutes which documented its location.
After around an hour and 45 minutes into the two-hour journey to the wreckage, all communication with the Titan was lost.
The final alert it sent to the Polar Prince showed that the vessel was directly above the wreckage of the Titanic at around 10:00AM on Sunday.
During a press conference last night, Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick detailed what is "an incredibly complex operation" that has not yet yielded results.
Onboard the vessel is British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, along with two crewmembers Stockton Rush, founder and chief executive officer of OceanGate and French pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet, as reported by Reuters.
OceanGate released a short statement via their social media channels, which read: "We are exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely.
"Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families. 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. We are working toward the safe return of the crewmembers."
This is the third year that the expedition has operated, with those onboard reportedly paying $250,000 each for the privilege of getting to see the Titanic up close and personal.
Prior to the journey commencing, the British billionaire Hamish Harding documented on his Instagram that they had been experiencing bad weather, but they were going to use a small window to complete the dive.
There is widespread speculation as to the fate of the Titan on those onboard, but nothing is yet confirmed and rescuers face a race against time to find them.
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