There are less than 12 hours left before the oxygen in the missing Titanic tourist submarine, Titan. Now, rescuers have heard banging noises from the vicinity as a joint Canadian, US, and French operation is seeking the missing submersible.

According to The Independent, a Canadian aircraft detected intermittent "banging" noises within the wide search area, and the noise was heard near the missing Titanic tourist submarine's last known location. However, rescue crews do not have much time left to find them.

Search crews report that they are hearing the banging noises every 30 minutes on Tuesday, and again around four hours later on Wednesday after they deployed additional sonar devices.

However, the US Coast Guard admitted that they do not know if the noise comes from the missing Titanic submersible and that they "don't know the source of the noise."

Those inside the submarine are several billionaires and millionaires who paid hundreds of thousands of dollars just to get to the Titanic. These include British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood. Also aboard are the CEO and founder of OceanGate Expeditions Stockton Rush and renowned French Titanic expert and explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

The submarine was on its way down to the wreckage of the Titanic when it suddenly went missing on its way down around an hour and 45 minutes into the expedition. The Titan had four days' worth of emergency oxygen supply but time is running out.

Search and Rescue Continues for Missing Titanic Tourist Submarine

During a press conference, Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick told journalists that they have already sent remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) to actively search for the missing Titanic submersible, with several more expected to join in on Thursday.

Meanwhile, CBS News reported that search flights continue to look for the missing vessel day and night. Up to five vessels were searching for the Titan on Wednesday afternoon, with the number expected to double within 24 to 48 hours of the news conference.

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However, the search area is large, with rescuers expanding the search area to approximately twice the size of Connecticut. The depth of the area would also make it difficult as it extends to around 2.5 miles, However, Capt. Frederick continued to express his optimism, saying, "When you're in the middle of a search and rescue case, you always have hope."

OceanGate Was Warned About Potential Problems About Titanic Mission

As it turned out, OceanGate, which ran the catastrophic mission, was warned of possible problems, with experts both within and outside of it raising alarms.

According to Yahoo! News, OceanGate's director of marine operations, David Lochridge, reported that there were "potential dangers to passengers of the Titan as the submersible reached extreme depths." Over three dozen people also voiced their concerns, including industry leaders, deep-sea explorers, and oceanographers, all of them penning a letter to the now-missing Stockton Rush.

According to the letter, OceanGate's "experimental" approach and its decision to forgo a traditional assessment could lead to potentially "catastrophic" problems with the Titanic mission. The company seemed to have ignored these concerns, with a spokesperson for the company declining to comment about these critiques.

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This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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