An extensive search and rescue operation is being carried out to locate the Titan commercial submersible that went missing during a dive to the Titanic shipwreck.
Key points
- According to the US Coast Guard, contact with the submersible was lost about one hour and 45 minutes into the dive, with five people onboard.
- The expedition was being run by US company OceanGate as part of an eight-day trip with guests paying US$250,000 per head to visit the wreck site.
- The Titanic’s wreck sits some 3,800 metres deep in the Atlantic, about 700km south of St John’s, Newfoundland.
- Submersibles are manned watercraft that move in a similar fashion to submarines, but within a much more limited range.
- They’re often used for research and exploration purposes, including to search for shipwrecks and to document underwater environments.
- Unlike submarines, they usually have a viewport to allow passengers look outside, and outside cameras that provide a broader view around the submersible.
- The Titan watercraft can take five people to depths of up to 4,000m. The Titan is about 22 feet in length, with speeds of about 3 knots, or 5.5km per hour.
