On Sunday morning, a deep-sea submersible operated by OceanGate Expeditions took off on a tour to view the underwater wreckage site of the Titanic with five people — including tourists — on board. However, about an hour and 45 minutes into the journey, the vessel lost contact with its surface ship. According to the New York Times, both the American and Canadian Coast Guards are currently searching for the sub, and they hope to find it before its reported 96-hour supply of oxygen runs out.
Here's everything we know about the ongoing situation:
1. OceanGate Expeditions is a private company specializing in deep ocean exploration. According to their website, the venture operates a "fleet" of five-person submersibles — which are different than submarines, largely due to the fact that they need a mothership to launch from. The submersibles can reach depths of about 4,000 meters, and they've completed successful annual trips to the Titanic's historic site in 2021 and 2022.
The company was founded by Stockton Rush, who has history in aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering.
2. OceanGate crews have manned ships for both research and commercial journeys. In the past, they've developed 3D model imaging of shipwrecks and provided opportunities for scientists and students to survey sea life and sanctuaries up close.
3. With regards to their Titanic expeditions specifically, the company says tours can last up to 10 days. But it'll cost you. The price of a ticket will reportedly run explorers $250,000.
While below the surface, specialists on board also capture new images of the wreckage and document flora and fauna inhabiting the ship for future research.
4. The 23,000-pound missing vessel is called the Titan, and it boasts a real-time health monitoring system that "makes it possible to analyze the effects of changing pressure on the vessel as the submersible dives deeper, and accurately assess the integrity of the structure," OceanGate's website says. "This onboard health analysis monitoring system provides early warning detection for the pilot with enough time to arrest the descent and safely return to surface."
5. The Titan took its dive near Newfoundland, Canada with five people on board who have been identified by ABC News as British entrepreneur Hamish Harding, French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani business chairman Shahzada Dawood, and Shahzada's 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood, as well as OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.
The Titanic sank about 400 nautical miles away from Newfoundland in the Atlantic ocean.
7. First District Commander of the US Coast Guard, Rear Admiral John W. Mauger, recently spoke at a press briefing about the missing vessel, where he shared that the submersible likely has around 70–96 hours worth of oxygen left.
"We understood that there was 96 hours of emergency capability from the operator," Mauger said. "And so we anticipate that there's somewhere between 70 to the full 96 hours available at this point."
8. With consideration to the timeline, search crews are under pressure as oxygen is expected to last until Thursday morning.
9. Besides concern surrounding oxygen levels, a previous CBS report on OceanGate's fleet has also raised eyebrows. Five months ago, correspondent David Pogue took a trip inside the Titan, where he said, "Pieces of this sub seem improvised." Inside, a handle was installed from Camper World, and a guide shares, "We run the whole thing with this game controller."
View this video on YouTube
10. "It seems like this submersible has some elements of MacGyver-y jerry-rigged-ness," Pogue says in a now-viral video of his tour.
11. "There's certain things that you want to be button-down," CEO Stockton Rush responded in the video. "The pressure vessel is not MacGyver'd at all because that's where we work with Boeing, NASA, and the University of Washington. Everything else can fail — your thrusters can go, your lights can go; you're still going to be safe."
12. When speaking on efforts made to locate the missing submersible, Mauger said, "Over the night, we've flown multiple aircraft over the site, looking for any signs of surface of the submersible. The area that we search is roughly the size of Connecticut."
Remote-operated vehicles are also being deployed under the water.
13. Besides the region's great expanse, search efforts are also complicated by the depth at which the submersible may be located. "This is a complex case, and the Coast Guard doesn't have all the resources to be able to affect this kind of rescue," Mauger said. However, he said they are ready to "deploy all available equipment to the scene that can be used to locate the submersible whether it's on the surface or down beneath."
"Folks have been working around the clock to mobilize gear, to get it to the site, and to participate in the search for this submersible," he concluded.
14. Rescuers are also using sonar to try to locate the sounds emitted by the sub, but it is not currently clear whether the vessel is equipped with noise devices used to alert listeners to their location.
“No signal is very bad news,” marine hydrodynamics professor Pengfei Liu told NBC News.