<p>With alarm rising and air supply onboard the missing watercraft dwindling, a growing array of international rescuers ramped up their search Tuesday for the submersible carrying five people that disappeared Sunday en route to the wreckage of the Titanic.</p>.<p>US Coast Guard commanders described a complex and highly challenging search mission over an area the size of Connecticut, some 900 miles off Cape Cod in the North Atlantic. Officials said the mission was complicated by the vast distances that vessels must travel to get to the site, and the logistical complexity of a combined surface and undersea search for the privately owned, 22-foot submersible, called Titan, which disappeared in the midst of diving 2 1/2 miles deep to view the sunken ship.<br /><br /><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/missing-titanic-submersible-why-are-undersea-rescues-so-difficult-1229390.html" target="_blank">Missing Titanic submersible: Why are undersea rescues so difficult?</a></strong></p>.<p>Capt Jamie Frederick, response coordinator for the 1st Coast Guard District, based in Boston, estimated Tuesday afternoon that the five people on the submersible had 40 hours of breathable air left. Troubling questions have emerged about the safety practices of the company that built it, OceanGate Expeditions. In a letter sent in 2018 to the company’s CEO, Stockton Rush, industry leaders warned of possible 'catastrophic' problems from its 'experimental' approach and its failure to follow established safety guidelines.</p>.<p>Rush, the vessel’s pilot, was among those missing. Others include Hamish Harding, 58, a British explorer; Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, a French maritime expert who has made over 35 dives to the Titanic wreck site; and a British businessperson, Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son, Suleman.</p>.<p>One vessel on its way Tuesday, from the Royal Canadian Navy, is equipped with a hyperbaric recompression chamber, used to treat diving-related illness. The submersible has been missing since Sunday, when it lost communication with the Canadian research ship MV Polar Prince, which helped it to deploy.</p>.<p>The Titan offers 96 hours of 'life support' for five people, according to the OceanGate website. But some experts have questioned whether travelers can survive that long, citing the risk of carbon dioxide buildup in the submersible if it is not equipped with a system to remove it.</p>.<p>Rachel Lance, a biomedical engineer at Duke University who has studied submarine disasters, said that without removal of carbon dioxide, the survival limit for people inside would likely be closer to 'one or two days, max, for five people in a space that small.'</p>
<p>With alarm rising and air supply onboard the missing watercraft dwindling, a growing array of international rescuers ramped up their search Tuesday for the submersible carrying five people that disappeared Sunday en route to the wreckage of the Titanic.</p>.<p>US Coast Guard commanders described a complex and highly challenging search mission over an area the size of Connecticut, some 900 miles off Cape Cod in the North Atlantic. Officials said the mission was complicated by the vast distances that vessels must travel to get to the site, and the logistical complexity of a combined surface and undersea search for the privately owned, 22-foot submersible, called Titan, which disappeared in the midst of diving 2 1/2 miles deep to view the sunken ship.<br /><br /><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/missing-titanic-submersible-why-are-undersea-rescues-so-difficult-1229390.html" target="_blank">Missing Titanic submersible: Why are undersea rescues so difficult?</a></strong></p>.<p>Capt Jamie Frederick, response coordinator for the 1st Coast Guard District, based in Boston, estimated Tuesday afternoon that the five people on the submersible had 40 hours of breathable air left. Troubling questions have emerged about the safety practices of the company that built it, OceanGate Expeditions. In a letter sent in 2018 to the company’s CEO, Stockton Rush, industry leaders warned of possible 'catastrophic' problems from its 'experimental' approach and its failure to follow established safety guidelines.</p>.<p>Rush, the vessel’s pilot, was among those missing. Others include Hamish Harding, 58, a British explorer; Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, a French maritime expert who has made over 35 dives to the Titanic wreck site; and a British businessperson, Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son, Suleman.</p>.<p>One vessel on its way Tuesday, from the Royal Canadian Navy, is equipped with a hyperbaric recompression chamber, used to treat diving-related illness. The submersible has been missing since Sunday, when it lost communication with the Canadian research ship MV Polar Prince, which helped it to deploy.</p>.<p>The Titan offers 96 hours of 'life support' for five people, according to the OceanGate website. But some experts have questioned whether travelers can survive that long, citing the risk of carbon dioxide buildup in the submersible if it is not equipped with a system to remove it.</p>.<p>Rachel Lance, a biomedical engineer at Duke University who has studied submarine disasters, said that without removal of carbon dioxide, the survival limit for people inside would likely be closer to 'one or two days, max, for five people in a space that small.'</p>