Missing Titan timeline: The key events in the disappearance of Titanic submersible

Rescuers are still desperately trying to locate a submersible which disappeared while on a dive to the Titanic shipwreck.

The Titan submersible, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, was reported missing on Sunday evening in the mid-Atlantic about 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.

Read more: Live updates after Titanic tourist submersible goes missing

The five people on board the submersible may have less than 20 hours worth of emergency oxygen left as of 6pm on Wednesday, officials said.

Here are the key events over the past three days:

Saturday 17 June

10.30pm

British billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, chairman of private plane firm Action Aviation, posts on Twitter and Instagram that he is joining the OceanGate Expedition dive on the Titan submersible to the shipwreck of the Titanic.

He wrote on Instagram: "A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow."

OceanGate charges $250,000 (£195,000) for an eight-day trip that includes a dive to the wreck of the Titanic.

Sunday 18 June

4am (Eastern Standard Time)

The Titan submersible begins its dive to the wreck of the Titanic, launching from its support ship, the Polar Prince, about 435 miles south of St John's, Newfoundland, Canada.

According to the OceanGate website, the submersible is made from carbon fibre and titanium, weighs more than 10,000kg and can reach depths of 13,100ft.

5.45am

About one hour and 45 minutes into the dive, contact is lost with the Titan submersible.

OceanGate said the Titan communicates with the crew on the surface via text messages sent via a USBL (ultra-short baseline) acoustic system.

Read more: Inside cramped Titan submersible missing during voyage to Titanic shipwreck

It said the submersible is required to communicate with those on the surface every 15 minutes or more frequently if needed.

Watch: Search continues for Titanic tourist submersible missing in Atlantic

The same system is used to track the position of the submersible.

9.13pm

Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, operated by the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Canadian Coast Guard, said the Titan vessel was reported missing on Sunday evening.

Monday 19 June

OceanGate statement

On Monday afternoon, OceanGate confirmed their submersible is missing.

In a statement, it said: “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. We are working toward the safe return of the crew members.”

Coast guard response

In a press conference on Monday, Rear Admiral John W Mauger, of the US Coast Guard, said they were conducting a search 900 miles east of Cape Cod in collaboration with the Canadian armed forces and commercial vessels in the area.

“It is a remote area and a challenge, but we are deploying all available assets to make sure we can locate the craft and rescue the people onboard,” he said.

He said the submersible had between 70 and 96 hours worth of emergency oxygen left.

British billionaire on board

On Monday evening, it is confirmed that Harding is on board the submersible.

The British billionaire is also a renowned explorer. He has taken a flight into space and holds three Guinness World Records, including the longest duration at full ocean depth by a crewed vessel when, in March 2021, he dived to the lowest depth of the Mariana Trench.

In June 2022, he went into space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.

Tuesday 20 June

UK-based businessman and son on board

Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son, Suleman, 19, are confirmed to have been on board the submersible by their family.

French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, who has made multiple dives to the Titanic, is also thought to be on board, as is OceanGate founder and chief executive Stockton Rush.

Dawood is the vice chairman of Engro Corporation, which provides fertilisers, food and energy.

He lives in Surbiton, Surrey, with his wife, Christine, and his children, son Suleman and daughter Alina.

Distress signal

On Tuesday, it was revealed that a distress signal from the vessel has been sent out, according to oceanologist Dr Simon Boxall of the University of Southampton.

“This is second-hand knowledge but my understanding is that they have received a signal from the submarine," he said.

“You can’t use radios underwater. You rely totally on ‘pings’. What they have is really limited communication.

“Apparently they have had, and I don’t know when… they have had an emergency ping saying the vessel is in distress. I don’t know if that is automatically generated or generated by people on board.

He said he did not know when the message was transmitted.

2.15pm

The US Coast Guard said a Canadian aircraft has joined the search for the missing submersible Titan by using sonar.

In a tweet, the coast guard said: “A Canadian Aircraft P3 Aurora has arrived on scene to conduct sonar searches.

“The R/V Polar Prince and R/V Deep Energy are continuing their surface searches.

“Total search area completed as of this morning (Tuesday) is 10,000 SQ miles.”

6pm

Captain Jamie Frederick of the US Coast Guard said a “unified command” of multiple agencies was formed on Monday to tackle the “very complex problem” of finding the missing sub, which has so far “not yielded any results”.

Speaking at a press conference in Boston on Tuesday, Frederick was non-committal when asked if there is any way to retrieve the submersible and save the five on board if it can be located.

He said: “So, right now all of our efforts are focused on finding the sub.

“What I will tell you is we have a group of our nation’s best experts in the unified command and if we get to that point, those experts will be looking at what the next course of action is.”

King Charles ‘being kept informed’

The King is being kept informed on the search for the sub after it emerged that one of the five people aboard the vessel – Shahzada Dawood – is a longtime supporter of The Prince’s Trust International and The British Asian Trust, both of which are charities founded by Charles.

It is understood that Charles has asked to be kept fully up to date on the situation – and that his thoughts and prayers are with the Dawood family and all those involved in the incident.

Wednesday 21 June

Underwater noises detected from search area

The US Coast Guard revealed this morning that noises have been detected from the search area of the missing deep-sea vessel.

They said: “Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater noises in the search area. As a result, ROV (remote operating vehicles) operations were relocated in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises.

“Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue.”

They added: “Additionally, the data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our US Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans.”

Meanwhile, US media outlet The Rolling Stone reported an internal US government memo said “banging” was detected by Canadian search aircraft in 30-minute intervals.

Captain Jamie Frederick said the cause of the noises was still unconfirmed but insisted the efforts to find the five missing people aboard the Titan was still “a rescue mission”.

He added: “The good news is we are searching in the area where the noises were detected.”

On oxygen levels on board, he said: “Oxygen is just one piece of data. There are lots of pieces of data that we need to study. But (oxygen) is not the only thing that’s important.”

‘Cause for hope’

The Explorers’ Club, of which Titan passenger Harding is a founding member, shared an upbeat message on Wednesday morning following the reports of sounds detected.

President Richard Garriot de Cayeux said in a statement: “There is cause for hope, that based on data from the field, we understand that likely signs of life have been detected at the site.

“They precisely understand the experienced personnel and tech we can help deploy… We believe they are doing everything possible with all the resources they have.”

Garriot de Cayeux said they are ready to provide the UK-based Magellan’s remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that is certified to travel as deep as 6,000 metres.

Plans if Titan is found

Rear Admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard told BBC News there is a number of plans should they find Titan, with a range of equipment ready.

He said: “While our unified command is fully focused on the search we have experts that are working those different scenarios and we have mobilised gear on site, we have lift capabilities on the vessels that are on site now we have additional lift capability coming in.

“The (US) Navy has mobilised a submerged object recovery system that they have and the Canadian armed forces have mobilised a recompression chamber with medical support.

“We’re preparing for contingencies while remaining laser-focused on the search for the submersible and those people.”

Thursday 22 June

All-out search for Titan

With oxygen on Titan expected to run out in a matter of hours, the rush to find it has intensified.

The area of the search has been expanded, with the surface search now about 10,000 square miles, and the sub-surface search about 2.5 miles deep.

The coast guard had five surface vessels searching for Titan on Wednesday and they expected there to be 10 by today, captain Jamie Frederick said.

Noises ‘may not be from Titan’

Former US Navy submarine commander, David Marquet, has suggested that the noises detected may not be coming from the submersible.

He told the BBC: “I don’t think the noise is them, it could just be natural sounds.

“We’re hearing noises and more ships are coming into the area, and then we’re hearing more noises, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”

However, deep-sea explorer Dr David Gallo still believes the noises could be coming from Titan.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain, he said: “In this case, the noises are repetitive, every half hour I believe.

“Three different aircraft heard them in their sensors at the same time and it went on for two days-plus.

“It’s still going on apparently. There’s not a lot in the natural world we can think of that would do that every 30-minute cycle.

“We have to, at this point, assume that that’s the sub and move quickly to that spot, locate it and get robots down there to verify that is where the sub is.”