The search for the Titanic tourist sub is challenging rescue crews, who are combing the North Atlantic ocean for the vessel before its limited air supply runs out.
The U.S. Coast Guard is leading the effort along with Canadian rescue teams, but other military branches and forces with the Pentagon are also jumping into the frantic search.
Rescuers are concentrating their efforts in the Atlantic about 900 miles east from Massachusett’s Cape Cod.
Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said the Defense Department committed two C-130 aircraft for search-and-rescue flights over the area on Monday.
A third C-130 from the Air National Guard is also set to join the search by the end of Tuesday, while the U.S. Navy is providing subject matter experts and assets.
“I believe that we are doing everything we can in terms of surveying the area and that’s been the focus of the department right now,” Singh told reporters at a Tuesday briefing.
The robust search effort comes as the crew’s oxygen supply has dropped from 96 hours to roughly 40 hours, according to Coast Guard officials.
Capt. Jamie Frederick with the Coast Guard’s 1st District said the search has so far failed to yield any results.
“This is a complex search,” Frederick told reporters. “Logistically speaking, it’s hard to bring assets to bear.”
The submersible vessel, called Titan, is operated by OceanGate Expeditions, a privately owned company founded in 2009. OceanGate offers deep sea ocean experiences more than 12,000 miles underwater.
The 21-foot sub has been missing since Sunday. Rescue crews are searching along the surface of the water and under the sea and have covered at least 10,000 square miles of distance.
The passengers are: Hamish Harding, a British billionaire; Pakistani national Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman; French explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet; and Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
