Titanic Tourist Submarine Missing in the Atlantic

Image: Map of the Titanic wreckage (Photo Credit: Main_sail/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

by Janeen Christoff
Last updated: 3:25 PM ET, Mon June 19, 2023

A tourist submarine that was taking people on an expedition to the wreck of the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean has gone missing.?

A major search and rescue operations is currently under way to find the vessel and its crew. Government agencies and deep sea firms have been enlisted in the search, including the Rescue Coordination Center in Halifax, which is providing?P8 Poseidon aircraft that have underwater detection capabilities.

OceanGate operates $250,000-a-seat expeditions that depart from St. John's, Newfoundland, to survey the wreckage of the ship, which sank in 1912 at 12,500 feet.

According to the BBC, the company's Titan submersible is the lost craft. The vessel has the capacity for five people for 96 hours. It is unclear when contact with the Titan was lost.

"Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families," OceanGate said in a statement. "We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to re-establish contact with the submersible."