Geoff: Good evening and welcome
to the newshour.
The search for the missing
submersible in the north
atlantic ocean intensified
throughout the day.
Amna: And the U.S.
Coast guard said it is still
treating the mission as a search
and rescue operation, even as
the supply of oxygen is likely
dwindling for the five people
aboard.
More ships and special equipment
are heading to the area this
evening.
The day began with a surprise,
reports of banging noises
detected by sonar.
>> The first glimmer of hope in
the massive maritime search.
>> There have been multiple
reports of noises, and every one
of those noises is being
analyzed, tracked, look for
patterns and reported on.
>> A Canadian military plane
picked up underwater noises on
Tuesday as the hunt for the
missing submersible stretches
today four.
Officials said more sounds were
heard today, and experts are
reviewing the data.
>> They are trying to put all
the pieces together.
The noises have been described
as banging noises.
But again, they have to put the
whole picture together in
context.
There are a lot of vessels in
the area and they each make
noise.
So all that has to be
eliminated.
>> The submersible vanished on
Sunday.
The titan, roughly the size of a
minivan, set off with about four
days worth of readable oxygen.
Officials say that is enough to
last until tomorrow morning.
For the international
search-and-rescue operation, the
clock is ticking and the
pressure growing.
Several countries are bringing
in additional surface ships and
underwater vessels to aid the
effort.
Canadian ships have dropped
sonar buoy's to detect any
underwater sounds in the search
area, about 400 miles off the
southern coast of Newfoundland,
and following reports of the
noise, French researchers
dispatched and unmanned robotic
vehicle, set to arrive this
evening, capable of hooking the
sub to a cable that could tow it
to the surface.
>> The ocean is inherently a
noisy place.
We have lots of marine mammals
making sounds and there's a lot
of instrumentation in the ocean,
explorations going on.
Sound travels pretty well
underwater, so I give it a low
chance of identification that in
fact banging noises that we
heard were from the underwater
submersible.
>> As questions remain about how
to reach the sub, past
allegations and questions about
the company that runs the voyage
have surface.
In 2018, terminated ocean
employee sued the company,
raising concerns about the
safety of its submersible
technology.
That same year, more than three
dozen industry experts sent a
letter with similar concerns
warning a potential catastrophic
outcomes.
Rush insisted at the time they
took adequate safety measures.
He is now among the five
passengers aboard the missing
vessel >>.
Oftentimes, when organizations
want to push the technology
envelope, they will use
materials that are uncommon, or
take designs that have not been
tested.
>> Peter is a professor at
Harvard university where his lab
develops ocean instruments.
>> What we are seeing is more
and more information coming out
that raises the possibility that
there may have been oversights
as they tried to get this
experimental submersible in the
water on kind of active duty, if
you will.
>> Even as the estimated oxygen
deadline looms, coast guard
officials said they are not
giving up.
>> After you consider all those
factors, sometimes you are in a
position where you have to make
a tough decision.
We are not there yet, but we
continue to search.
Again, we are not there yet.
♪♪