Rescuers find debris field as 96-hour deadline lapses for missing Titanic submersible

TORONTO

A debris field was discovered by a remotely operated vehicle near the missing Titanic submersible search area, and authorities are "evaluating the information," the US Coast Guard said on Thursday.

"A debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) near the Titanic. Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information," it said on Twitter.

It is unclear whether the debris field is related to the missing submersible, Titan.

On Wednesday, the US Coast Guard said a multinational group of first responders was bringing in additional resources to scour above and below the ocean's surface as the search for a missing tourist submersible dramatically expanded.

Capt. Jamie Frederick, the First Coast Guard District response coordinator, told reporters in Boston, Massachusetts that additional banging noises were heard early Wednesday after first being detected Tuesday. Rescuers are now "exponentially expanding the size of the search area" to include an area twice the size of the state of Connecticut and two-and-a-half miles (four kilometers) deep.

The source of the sounds detected on Tuesday has not yet been ascertained, and Frederick said experts are continuing to analyze them to determine if they are man-made or natural.

On board the Titan submersible are British billionaire Hamish Harding, who owns Action Aviation, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Soleiman Dawood, French submarine pilot Paul Henry Nargeolet, and Stockton Rush, the founder and CEO of OceanGate, which owns the vessel and organized the mission.

The eight-day tour ticket, which includes diving to see the wreckage of the Titanic in the submersible, costs $250,000.

The Titan, which set out with approximately 96 hours of oxygen and an estimated journey duration of two-and-a-half hours to see the 110-year-old wreckage of the Titanic before disappearing in the Atlantic Ocean, lost communication with the surface ship Polar Prince after one hour and 45 minutes of diving.

Underwater, where GPS does not work, the submersible was guided by text messages from the surface ship.

The ship is said to use the Starlink satellite internet system owned by Elon Musk's company SpaceX.