BREAKING: Tourist Submarine Visiting Titanic Wreckage Goes Missing

OceanGate.com

On Monday, an urgent rescue operation was launched as a vessel responsible for transporting tourists to explore the underwater remains of the Titanic vanished in the Atlantic Ocean.

Fox News Digital received confirmation from the U.S. Coast Guard that they are actively engaged in locating the missing Titan submersible. OceanGate Expeditions, the company facilitating trips to the renowned shipwreck, had recently announced new mission teams for a North Atlantic voyage on social media.

According to the Coast Guard, the missing submersible carried a total of five individuals on board, consisting of one crew member and four “mission specialists.” An aerial search is currently being conducted to locate the vehicle, which is equipped with an automatic surfacing mechanism to address any technical problems.

“We are exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely,” OceanGate said in a statement. “Our entire focus is on the crew members in the submersible and their families. We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible. We are working toward the safe return of the crew members.”

A C-130 aircraft has been deployed by the United States Coast Guard Northeast to search for the submarine on the surface of the ocean. A P8-Orion aircraft, which is equipped to drop sonar boueys to search underwater, has been deployed by the Rescue Coordination Center Halifax. The United States and Canada have other aircraft on the way to help with the search.

According to the OceanGate website, the Titan submersible is designed to carry five passengers to a depth of more than 13,000 feet.

The site also states that the vessel is different than other deep-diving submarines in that it is the only one equipped with a real-time health monitoring system that provides “early warning detection for the pilot with enough time to arrest the descent and safely return to surface.”

The Titan is also equipped with enough life support to keep five people alive for 96 hours. This means that search and rescue teams have approximately 70 hours left to find the submarine, if the onboard security features were functioning properly.

Tourists pay $250,000 to secure a seat on the OceanGate vessel to view Titanic wreckage.

This is a developing story.

Learn more about OceanGate and the Titan in the video below.