With extreme caution but keeping the optimism and focusing efforts on the area where a faint ray of hope has opened, or has been wanted to be opened. This is how the complex unfolds this Wednesday Titan search and rescue operationthe submersible with five occupants that disappeared on Sunday in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean as it descended towards the remains of the Titanic.
While the clock follows its irelentless countdown around the time of this Thursday when it is estimated that oxygen will run out in the submersible (approximately at six in the morning local time, noon in Spain), the waterline of the illusion was maintained by the sounds that a Canadian P3 aircraft that participates in the mission has detected in the last hours, both Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
Those underwater sound records, which are in the hands of experts from the US Navy, They have been confirmed at a press conference in Boston by Jamie Frederick, the response coordinator of the United States Coast Guard, who is in charge of the international joint command that manages the mission. Frederick has recognized “frankly & rdquor; regarding the recorded noises: “We don’t know what they are & rdquor ;. It has also confirmed that for the moment the analysis of sounds “They are not conclusive & rdquor;. But he has emphasized time and again that “the important thing is that they have moved search capabilities to the area in which they were detected”.
Frederick has not confirmed information that ensures that these sounds, “like blows & rdquor ;, were periodic, every 30 minutes, something that diving experts have wanted to identify as a possible sign that they are being made by one of the Titan’s occupants with experience in the depths. And to underline his caution, he has also relied on the appearance this Wednesday before the press on the experience of Carl Harstfield, an expert of Woods Hole Institution of Oceanography who is advising the Navy on analyzing sounds, looking for patterns.
“The ocean is a very complex place and sometimes it is very difficult to discern what the source is of sounds, if it is human or from nature& rdquor ;, explained Hartsfield, who added: “Nothing is ruled out & rdquor;.
The focus on hope
Despite the fact that the margin of possible survival within the Titan narrows, Frederick has refused to focus on the remaining hours of oxygenensuring that it is only one of the data that they should take into account. “When you’re in the middle of a search and rescue case, you always have hope, that’s why we do what we do,” he reminded journalists.
“We need to have hope,” he reiterated at another time, assuring that the operation continues to be “one hundred percent & rdquor; search and rescue and refusing to enter into speculation about the future if it ends up failing. “Sometimes we don’t find what we’re looking for and then you have to carefully consider many factors and you find yourself in a position to have to make a decision. hard decision& rdquor ;, he said. “We are not there yet”.
overall operation
The operation, which by the beginning of the day had already been covered in the search a area of about 25,000 square kilometers (similar to the provinces of Barcelona, Lleida and Tarragona together) continued, in fact, to grow with a impressive international deployment, air, sea and land.
To the presence in the area of the ‘Polar Prince’, the Canadian icebreaker that served as a mother ship to carry the Titan and its passengers to the waters where the Titanic is located, and the commercial ship ‘Deep Energy‘ are added four Canadian Coast Guard vessels. This Wednesday, among others, the John Cabot arrived, a scientific ship equipped with a advanced deep sonar to read and image the ocean floor. There is also the Ann Harvey, a multitasking ship with navigation and communication equipment, the icebreaker Terry Fox and the ‘Atlantic Merlin’.
At night the arrival of the French ship was expected Atalante, carried by the Víctor 6000, a underwater robot capable of reaching depths of almost 4,000 meters in which the historic wreck is located. And also the operation has the support of two other commercial ships and soon with the Ship Glace Bay, a ship that transports medical staff and have one mobile decompression chamber.
From the air the operations are carried out two US C130 aircraft and others two Canadian P8 and P3.
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All faced the deterioration of the meteorological conditions expected for this Wednesday, when the arrival of a storm threatened winds of about 40 kilometers per hour, waves of about three meters and again reduced visibility.