ISLAMABAD
\nThe US Coast Guard said late on Monday that its search for a missing submersible vessel, with two Pakistanis on board, near the Titanic wreck had been completed for the day but that a national guard unit and the company operating the five-passenger underwater mission would continue scouring the surface overnight.
\nThe 21-foot craft, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, began its descent on Sunday but lost contact with the surface less than two hours later, according to authorities.
\nThe US Coast Guard said it had launched two planes to survey the remote area in the North Atlantic, while its Canadian counterparts had also sent a plane and a ship.
\nBut with no reported sightings of the vessel or communication signals throughout the day, the US Coast Guard\u2019s Boston-based unit said in a tweet around 9:00pm (0100 GMT on Tuesday) that its flights for the day \u201chave been completed\u201d.
\n\u201cThe Polar Prince and Rescue106 will continue to do surface searches throughout the evening,\u201d the tweet said, referring to the research ship that launched the submersible, and a US Air National Guard unit, respectively.
\nSearches by Canadian aircraft, which had been using buoys to scan underneath the surface, will continue Tuesday morning, it added.
\nBusinessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, were also on board, their family said in a statement. The statement said the father and son had planned the journey to visit the remnants of the Titanic shipwreck.
\nShahzada is the vice chairman of one of Pakistan\u2019s largest conglomerates, Engro Corporation, which has investments in fertilisers, vehicle manufacturing, energy and digital technologies.
\nAccording to the website of SETI, the California-based research institute of which he is a trustee, he lives in Britain with his wife and two children.
\nIn a statement, Engro corporation said that all it knew was that contact was lost with the submersible craft. \u201cThere is limited information available beyond this that we know, and we humbly request that speculation and theorisation is avoided,\u201d the company said.
\n\u201cWe, at Engro, remain in prayer for their swift and safe return, and will share updates we may have as and when they come,\u201d it added.
\nAnother one of the passengers has been identified as British businessman Hamish Harding, whose aviation business had posted on social media about his expedition.
\n\u201cIt is a challenge to conduct a search in that remote area, but we are deploying all available assets to make sure that we can locate the craft and rescue the people on board,\u201d US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger told reporters in Boston, where he was overseeing the operation.
\nTime is a critical factor. The vessel has a range of 96 hours for the crew of five, and Mauger said on Monday afternoon he believed it still had 70 or more hours of remaining oxygen.
\nOceanGate Expeditions\u2019 spokesperson told AFP late on Monday that \u201cfor some time, we have been unable to establish communications with one of our submersible exploration vehicles which is currently visiting the wreck site of the Titanic\u201d.
\n\u201cOur entire focus is on the well-being of the crew and every step possible is being taken to bring the five crew members back safely,\u201d the statement added.
\nThe company uses a submersible named Titan for its dives to a maximum depth of 4,000 metres (13,100 feet).
\nThe Titanic hit an iceberg and sank in 1912 during its maiden voyage from England to New York with 2,224 passengers and crew on board. More than 1,500 people died in the tragedy.
\nThe wreckage is in two main pieces 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, some 13,000 feet underwater. It was found in 1985 and remains a source of fascination and a lure for nautical experts and underwater tourists.
\nWithout having studied the craft itself, Alistair Greig, professor of marine engineering at University College London, suggested two possible theories based on images of the vessel published by the press.
\nHe said if it had an electrical or communications problem, it could have surfaced and remained floating, \u201cwaiting to be found\u201d.
\n\u201cAnother scenario is the pressure hull was compromised \u2014 a leak,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cThen the prognosis is not good\u201d.
\nWhile the submersible may still be intact during its dive, there are very few vessels able to go to the depth to which the Titan might have traveled.
\nOceanGate said in its statement it was \u201cdeeply 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\u201d.
\n\u201cThe clock is ticking, and any submariner\/submersible deep divers know how unforgiving the Abyssal domain is: going undersea is as, if not more, challenging than going into space from an engineering perspective,\u201d said University of Adelaide associate professor Eric Fusil in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD The US Coast Guard said late on Monday that its search for a missing submersible vessel, with two Pakistanis on board, near the Titanic wreck had been completed for the day but that a national guard unit and the company operating the five-passenger underwater mission would continue scouring the surface overnight. The 21-foot craft, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339025,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-339003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n