UPDATED with U.S. Coast Guard Statement: Hours after the news broke that a submersible seeking to explore the wreck of the Titanic had gone missing the United States Coast Guard, which is leading the search, offered key specifics on the situation.
Per the Coast Guard, there were five crew members in the 21-foot submersible which, it turns out, went missing over 24 hours ago on Sunday morning.
“The 5 person crew submerged Sunday morning, and the crew of the Polar Prince lost contact with them approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes into the vessel’s dive,” reads the statement.
The Coast Guard revealed the search is taking place “900 miles off Cape Cod” with the assistance of P8 Poseidon aircraft, which has underwater detection capabilities.
PREVIOUSLY at 11 am: A submersible that takes tourists on pricey deep-sea explorations of the Titanic has reportedly gone missing in the area of the wreck, which lies 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland in 12,500 feet of water.
The missing craft is believed to be a “truck-sized sub that holds five people and usually dives with a four-day supply of oxygen,” according to the BBC. An extensive search is underway, led by the U.S. Coast Guard.
It is unclear when the vessel went missing or how many people were on board.
The company which operates the tours, OceanGate, describes itself as “a team of explorers, scientists, & filmmakers dedicated to exploring the deep.” It takes passengers on deep-sea submersible tours of the wreck for $250,000 each. Last week, the outfit posted photos what it said were its “Mission 3 and Mission 4” crew.
“Our entire focus is on the crew members in the submersible and their families,” reads a statement from OceanGate provided to the New York Times. “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.”
Per the Times, which did a piece on OceanGate last summer, “The dives last about eight hours, including the estimated 2.5 hours each way it takes to descend and ascend. Scientists and historians provide context on the trip and some conduct research at the site…The team also documents the wreckage with high-definition cameras to monitor its decay and capture it in detail.”
David Pogue reposted video from a CBS Sunday Morning piece he did while on an OceanGate expedition last summer, which he says “got lost for a few hours” while he was on board and never found the wreck. You can watch it below.
The Titanic sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg, killing about 1,500 passengers and crew. The wreckage was found in 1985, and inspired diver James Cameron to make Titanic in 1997. The film went on to win 11 Oscars and gross well over $2 billion worldwide.
“I made Titanic because I wanted to dive to the shipwreck, not because I particularly wanted to make the movie,” Cameron told Playboy in 2009. “The Titanic was the Mount Everest of shipwrecks, and as a diver I wanted to do it right. When I learned some other guys had dived to the Titanic to make an IMAX movie, I said, ‘I’ll make a Hollywood movie to pay for an expedition and do the same thing.’ I loved that first taste, and I wanted more.”
