U.S. Coast Guard Searches for Tourist Submersible Visiting the Titanic Shipwreck
The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a craft that its operator says can go as deep as 4,000 meters. Photo: joseph prezioso/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images By Talal Ansari and Gareth Vipers June 19, 2023 2:38 pm ET A tourist submersible visiting the wreck of the Titanic in the North Atlantic was the subject of a search and rescue effort by the U.S. and Canadian coast guards, officials said. It was not immediately clear how many people were on board the submersible. The tour operator, OceanGate Expeditions, which offers underwater trips to the ill-fated ocean liner that sits roughly 12,800 feet below the ocean surface, said Monday that it was working with rescue crews to bring the craft members back safely. The U.S. Coast Guard b
The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a craft that its operator says can go as deep as 4,000 meters.
Photo: joseph prezioso/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
A tourist submersible visiting the wreck of the Titanic in the North Atlantic was the subject of a search and rescue effort by the U.S. and Canadian coast guards, officials said.
It was not immediately clear how many people were on board the submersible.
The tour operator, OceanGate Expeditions, which offers underwater trips to the ill-fated ocean liner that sits roughly 12,800 feet below the ocean surface, said Monday that it was working with rescue crews to bring the craft members back safely.
The U.S. Coast Guard based in the Northeast said that one of its aircraft was searching for the submersible, which is located about 900 miles off Cape Cod. The Canadian Coast Guard was also involved in the search, a spokesman said.
The Titanic, a luxury ocean liner operated by the White Star Line shipping company, departed Southampton, England, before her maiden voyage across the Atlantic to New York on April 10, 1912.
The ship sank in the North Atlantic Ocean after it struck an iceberg. Of the more than 2,200 passengers and crew aboard, only about 700 people survived.
OceanGate is a Seattle-based company offering submersible expeditions of the deep ocean using crewed submersibles, according to the company’s website. The website says its fleet of five-person submersibles can reach depths of 4,000 meters—more than 1,300 feet—and “provide unique platforms for exploring the deep ocean.”
Write to Talal Ansari at [email protected] and Gareth Vipers at [email protected]
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