NEW YORK, June 21. /TASS/. The sounds that were registered in the area of search operation for the missing Titan submersible were not knocks originating from the bathyscaphe, specialists determined after analyzing the recording, NBC reported Wednesday citing two US Department of Homeland Security officials.
According to the report, the recorded sounds could be described as "noises" but they could not be called knocks.
Earlier on Wednesday, the US Coast Guard tweeted that the Canadian submarine seeker plane, involved in the search operation, registered underwater sounds, but searches for the submersible in the area of origin yielded negative results.
The participants of the rescue operation assess that the bathyscaphe will run out of air on Thursday. Currently, an area of almost 26,000 square kilometers has been surveyed, which is comparable to the US state of Massachusetts. At least eight specialized ships operate in the search area.
On June 19, OceanGate Expeditions announced that it has lost communication with the vessel for delivery of tourists to the Titanic wreck site. According to the US Coast Guard, there are currently five people inside the bathyscaphe; the communication was lost about 1 hour 15 minutes after dive on Sunday. Overall, the Titan can provide air to the people inside for 96 hours.
According to Sky News the submersible’s passengers are OceanGate Expeditions President and Founder Stockton Rush, French expert on Titanic Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and British billionaire Hamish Harding, owner of Action Aviation. The two other passengers are Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19.