Missing Titanic sub update: Search area expands as oxygen runs out

Crews are actively expanding the search area for the missing submersible that was traveling to see the Titanic wreckage, officials said on Wednesday.

“The surface search is now approximately two times the size of Connecticut and the subsurface search is up to two and a half miles deep,” U.S. Captain Jamie Frederick said during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

Frederick continued, “This is a search and rescue mission, 100 percent…We are smack dab in the middle of search and rescue and we’ll continue to put every available asset that we have in an effort to find the Titan and the crew members.”

The comments by Frederick come as crews continue to search for the Titan submersible, which disappeared on Sunday with five passengers on board. The passengers—Captain Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, Suleman Dawood, Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Stockton Rush—were traveling to see the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, which is located in the Atlantic Ocean.

The submersible is operated by OceanGate Expeditions and the company previously told Newsweek that they “are deeply grateful for the urgent and extensive assistance we are receiving from multiple government agencies and deep-sea companies as we seek to reestablish contact with the submersible. We pray for the safe return of the crew and passengers, and we will provide updates as they are available.”

The U.S. Coast Guard also recently said noises were detected in the area where search efforts are taking place. “As a result, ROV operations were relocated in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises. Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue,” the U.S. Coast Guard Northeast said in a tweet.

However, during the press conference on Wednesday, Frederick said he was unable to say exactly “what the noises are.” Officials previously said that the passengers have enough breathable oxygen to last until Thursday.

Simon Boxall, a professor of oceanography at the University of Southampton, told Newsweek on Tuesday that the submersible may have become “snagged” on something, such as the wreckage of the Titanic.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated when more information becomes available.