Timeline of missing OceanGate Titanic tourist submarine

Timeline of missing OceanGate Titanic tourist submersible: How the rescue mission to find vanished Titan sub carrying five passengers unfolded

• Here is a timeline of the rescue mission underway to find the missing Titan crew

A race-against-time rescue mission is underway in a bid to save five passengers onboard an OceanGate Titan submersible that went missing on Sunday morning after it set off to explore the wreckage of the Titanic. 

Titan submerged at 8am on Sunday morning around 400 miles southeast of St John’s, Newfoundland, near to where the famous shipwreck lies 12,500ft under the ocean. 

At 9:45am, an hour and 45 minutes after its departature, it lost contact with its mothership the Polar Prince, but wasn’t reported missing to the Coastguard until 5:40pm – some eight hours later.  

British billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, is among five passengers onboard the missing submersible.

He is also joined by UK-based businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19.

French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet and OceanGate’s chief executive Stockton Rush are also on the missing vessel.

The crew have less than 24 hours’ worth of oxygen remaining, according to authorities, with it set to run out at 10am GMT on Thursday.

Here is a timeline of events from Saturday, 17 June including the rescue mission which is currently underway. 

At 9.45am – an hour and 45 minutes into the dive – it lost contact with its mothership, the Polar Prince. But it wasn’t reported as missing to the US Coast Guard until 5.40pm, eight hours later. Canada’s Coast Guard wasn’t alerted until even later – 9.13pm on Sunday night

Scary animation shows how deep missing Titanic sub could be, surpassing the heights of multiple landmarks depicted in the water, including the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty and Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building

The ship wreck is 12,500ft underwater. There are fears the Titan may now be trapped inside it 

Timeline (British Summer Time) of the search for the Ocean Gate submersible, if Titan has lost its power the crew will be in complete darkness facing temperatures of 3C

Saturday 17 June

10:00am EST: Billionaire explorer Hamish Harding reveals via an Instagram post that he is among the crew to board a submersible vessel to explore the Titanic Wreckage located 13,000ft deep of the Atlantic Ocean. 

Hamish Harding is one of five crew members aboard the OceanGate Titan, he revealed via Instagram he would explore the Titanic wreckage a day before the expedition commenced

The billionaire shared that the mission is likely to be the only manned exploration of the wreckage in 2023

He wrote: ‘I am proud to finally announce that I joined OceanGate Expeditions for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic.

‘Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023. A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow.’

Sunday 18 June

4:00am EST: The submersible was originally aimed to start its descent, according to a post by Harding on Instagram, but is delayed according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

7:30am EST: The crew was dropped into the ocean in their 22-foot long submersible vessel.

8:00am EST: Titan submersible starts what should be a two-hour descent to the Titanic wreck, which lies at a depth of 12,500 feet in the North Atlantic, U.S. Coast Guard says.

The Titan sub is shown on Sunday morning, seconds before submerging at around 8am with five people onboard

9:45am EST: The vessel was programmed to send out a ‘ping’ every 15 minutes to indicate its location. But communications between the submersible and the surface vessel are lost one hour and 45 minutes after starting its descent, according to U.S. Coast Guard. 

3:00pm EST: The submersible is scheduled to return to the surface, the U.S. Coast Guard says it failed to appear.

5:40pm EST: Coast Guard receives report about an overdue submersible from Canadian Research Vessel Polar Prince with five people aboard diving to view the Titanic wreck about 900 nautical miles east of Cape Cod on the U.S. coast. 

The Polar Prince is the expedition ship being used in the dives. It didn’t alert the Coast Guard until 5.40pm

Monday 19 June

9:00am EST: Authorities revealed the submersible was missing and a large-scale search operation has been launched. 

U.S. and Canadian ships and planes swarm the area, some dropping sonar buoys that can monitor to a depth of 13,000 feet, according to U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger. 

He said that is a remote area and a challenge to conduct a search- officials have asked commercial vessels for help.  

Search equipment arriving at St John’s airport in Newfoundland aboard US Air Force C-17 cargo planes that is bound for the search area near the Titanic wreckage

Tuesday 20 June

6:00am EST: Rescuers have been searching for roughly 48 hours and have covered 10,000 square miles of ocean, with no sign of the missing submersible. 

Morning: The family of Pakistani-born businessman Shahzada Dawood confirms he is aboard with his 19-year-old son Suleman. They ask for prayers for their safety.

Confirmed: Pakistani-born businessman Shahzada Dawood co is aboard with his 19-year-old son Suleman. His family ask for prayers for their safety.

1:00pm EST: The US Coast Guard delivers an update on their rescue efforts and says the Titan craft has 40-41 hours of Oxygen remaining. 

Daytime: Sounds detected over several hours by Canadian Lockheed P-3 Orion aircraft, equipped with gear to trace submarines. The U.S. Coast Guard – which announces this on Wednesday – does not give a precise timing. 

CNN and Rolling Stone magazine reports Canadian aircraft detected ‘banging sounds’ at 30-minute intervals. Rolling Stone says sonar picks up more banging four hours later. 

CNN later reports sounds but does not describe them as banging. Harding’s friend, Jannicke Mikkelsen, says: ‘And as it stands right now, it would be a miracle if they are recovered alive.’ 

Wednesday 21 June 

2:00am EST: Internal email updates sent to Department of Homeland Security leadership read: ‘RCC Halifax launched a P8, Poseidon, which has underwater detection capabilities from the air.’

6:45am EST: Heavy machinery and submarines that are set to be used in a last-attempt to find the missing Titan arrive in Canada. 

Daytime: In a statement, President Richard Garriot de Cayeux of The Explorers’ Club said: ‘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. 

French research ship, equipped with a deep-sea diving vessel, expected to arrive at the search area.

10:00am EST: The MailOnline reports the French ship, carrying the only underwater vehicle capable of rescuing the Titan, will not get there until midnight UK time (19:00pm EST)

International rescue: France deploys robot that can dive to 6,000ft to help search for missing Titanic tourist sub – as two remote-controlled British and American vessels arrive on scene

Thursday June 22

6:00am EST: The Titan’s oxygen supply is due to run out, the vessel has 96 hours of air supply from the time it is sealed. 

This depends on the vessel being intact and other factors, such as whether the sub still has power in the icy depths. 

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