Searches for the ROV “have returned negative results but are continuing,” the military maritime division added.
Citing an internal US government document, CNN reported that “additional acoustic signals have been heard that will help direct surface resources while maintaining hope of finding survivors.”
On board the Titan are the British millionaire Hamish Harding, president of the Action Aviation company, the Pakistani Shahzada Dawood, vice president of Engro, and his son Suleman, the French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Stockton Rush, general director of OceanGate Expeditions, the company that operates the submersible.
The cost of the tour is $250,000 per passenger.
Ships and planes are heading to the site to reinforce the vast search operation deployed by the US and Canadian coast guards in the area.
The Pentagon announced the dispatch of a third C-130 and three C-17 aircraft, while an underwater robot sent by the French Oceanographic Institute will join the search on Wednesday.
complex operation
“This is a very complex search and the unified team is working tirelessly to put all available resources and knowledge to work as quickly as possible,” US Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick told reporters.
Rescuers now estimate that the passengers now have less than a day of oxygen left, as the submersible can hold up to 96 hours of emergency air.
Former OceanGate Expeditions director of marine operations David Lochridge, fired for questioning the Titan’s safety, cited the submersible’s “unproven and experimental design” in a lawsuit.
In a message posted on his Instagram account before setting out on the trip, Harding, 58, said he was proud to be part of this expedition.
“Due to the worst Newfoundland winter in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only crewed mission to the Titanic in 2023,” he wrote.
Mike Reiss, an American television writer who visited the wreckage of the Titanic in 2022, told the BBC that the experience was disorienting.
“The compass immediately stopped working and started spinning, so we had to circle blindly on the ocean floor,” he explained.