DIRECT. Missing submarine: the French ship Atalante and its submersible robot in the search area

The Canadian Horizon Arctic ROV (remotely operated underwater vehicle) “touched the seabed” in the search area, the coast guard said.

The French remote-controlled Victor 6000 underwater robot is about to dive, warn the American coast guard.

The Victor 6000 underwater robot is the only vehicle in the area capable of diving down to the wreck. It is remotely operated from the Atalante, via a cable which gives it theoretically unlimited autonomy. The robot also has a powerful lighting system that could help it locate the Titan in a completely dark environment, provided of course you know where to look.

The French oceanographic vessel Atalante and its Victor 6000 underwater robot have arrived at the search site. The machine, operated by the French Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer), “currently uses its multibeam sounder to have a finer cartography of the landscape and allow a more efficient dive of Victor 6000”.

The composition of the Titan could surprise, especially when we know that the machine is guided using a video game controller. A former OceanGate subcontractor told CNN that it was simply a matter of saving money by using “off-the-shelf” tools, given the staggering cost of building the submersible.

Specialists estimate that theoretical oxygen reserves could last until 1:08 p.m. on Thursday.

The rescue of the passengers of the Titan will “become almost impossible. We would need a miracle – but miracles do happen,” oceanographer and researcher David Gallo tells CNN.

The anguish of being stuck near the wreck of the Titanic, Michael Guillen knew it well. The very first journalist to descend near the famous ship tells BFMTV. An experience that he still remembers well 20 years later, since he was stuck for an hour in the blades of the propeller of the one who was nicknamed “the Unsinkable”. A moment that was both “testing” and “scary”, remembers the one who worked for the ABC News channel. At 4,000 m depth, “there is nothing around you, nothing. It’s literally 360° of nothingness, there’s no one to save you, nothing. It’s like being stuck on the moon,” he recalls.

As the race against time to try to find the Titan is soon coming to an end, the solutions to hope to save the five passengers are becoming scarce, in particular due to the nature of the tourist submarine, which does not have a decompression chamber allowing the French, the American, the British and the two Pakistanis to get out. A ROV (a remote-controlled vehicle) could, on the other hand, bring oxygen on board. This is the preferred solution. More details can be read in our article on the subject.

Aerial surveillance using C-130 or P3 aircraft, ships equipped with underwater robots: the means deployed by the American and Canadian armies continue to arrive at the site where the Polar Prince, the ship of which is gone the Titan submersible.

The Atlante, a French Ifremer research vessel equipped with a robot capable of diving to the wreck of the Titanic (which lies nearly 4,000 meters deep) must also arrive on site. A Canadian ship with medical personnel and a decompression chamber on board is also on its way.

“This is an extremely difficult time for the families of the crew members who disappeared on board the Titan,” said US Coast Guard captain Jamie Frederick during a press briefing in Boston.

Based on the 96 hours of oxygen available for five, rescuers have until 11 a.m. this Thursday to hope to find and help Titan passengers.

“I think we have increased the chances of a positive outcome,” thinks Richard Garriott, president of the American company Explorer Club. He also announces that the ROV (for remotely operated underwater vehicle, a remotely operated vehicle) Magellan is currently en route to the search area.

“We must remain optimistic and hopeful,” said US Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick during a press briefing in Boston.

At 7 p.m. (French time) on Wednesday evening, the captain declared that there was “only one day” of oxygen left for the passengers of the “Titan”, without giving a more precise timing.

While two robots and a sonar-equipped ship have been deployed to the area where the noises were detected, the wreckage of the Titanic complicates the task. “There’s a lot of metal and different objects in the water there,” Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger told CBS, noting that naval experts were called in “to understand the science behind this noise “

We will follow together the continuation of the search for Titan, a sunken tourist submarine with five passengers on board to visit the wreck of the Titanic on Sunday evening. Passengers’ oxygen supplies will soon run out.