As the search for the missing submersible that was exploring the Titanic goes on, more details about those on board are emerging.
As previously reported, a sub known as Titan has gone missing during an expedition that explores the wreckage of the Titanic. The expedition operated by OceanGate stopped sending signals to the surface around an hour and 45 minutes after it plunged into the water on Sunday.
The story has gripped many across the world as there has been no contact with the vessel since, and there is widespread speculation as to its fate.
One of those on board has been identified as British billionaire Hamish Harding, and he had been documenting the days up to the expedition via his Instagram profile.
David Pogue, a CBS reporter who traveled in the Titan submersible last year, recently told the BBC that passengers would have been sealed inside the vessel by bolts applied from the outside. "There's no way to escape, even if you rise to the surface by yourself," he revealed. "You cannot get out of the sub without a crew on the outside letting you out."
Pogue added that at the moment there was "no way" to communicate with the vessel, the GPS and radio don't work underwater. "When the support ship is directly over the sub, they can send short text messages back and forth. Clearly, those are no longer getting a response," he said.
The BBC reported that the submersible had a 96-hour oxygen supply starting at roughly 6:00 AM Sunday morning.
The vessel was reported overdue Sunday night about 435 miles south of St. John's, Newfoundland, with a Canadian Coast Guard vessel and military aircraft assisting the search effort alongside the US Coast Guard in Boston, AP News reported.
Rear Adm. John Mauger, a commander for the US Coast Guard, told AP that additional resources would be arriving in the coming days: "It is a remote area - and it is a challenge to conduct a search in that remote area. But we are deploying all available assets to make sure we can locate the craft and rescue the people on board."
David Concannon, an adviser to OceanGate, said in an email to AP that he was supposed to be on the dive but ended up not being able to go due to another client matter. He did reveal that authorities were focusing on securing a remotely operated vessel that would be able to reach a depth of six kilometers to the site as soon as possible.
