The clock is ticking..The dramatic race to save five Titanic tourists lost in a mini-sub entered it's third day on Tuesday..The sub, dubbed Titan, was carrying five people when it vanished Sunday as it made it's way into nearly four kilometres of water..It had enough oxygen to last 96 hourswhen it launched. Officials with the US Coast Guard said the sub now has only 40 hours of oxygen left as of 11 a.m. MST. If still intact, passengers have oxygen until 12:30 p.m. MST on Thursday.Coast Guard Capt. Frederick said rescues crews are "working around the clock" in the complex mission.."The best professionals in the worlds are working on it," said Frederick, adding getting a salvage vessel to the scene is the "top priority.".Tuesday morning the Deep Energy, which specializes in laying pipe and cables at depths of up to 3,000 metres, was helping with the search effort..It has launched a remotely-operated underwater vehicle with a camera to search for the sub..A total of nearly 20,000 sq-km has already been searched with air assets. .The Canadian Coast Guard ship John Cabot is expected on scene later Tuesday..The seas above the Titanic are currently experiencing swell up to two metres with with 15 knot winds..The French are also sending a vessel — which is equipped with a deep-sea robot — to help, reported the BBC..The Atalante should arrive in search zone later on Wednesday.Officials with the Boston coastguard, which is coordinating rescue efforts, said the sub lost contact with its mother ship about one hour 45 minutes into the dive..The sub is operated by a company called OceanGate, which two years ago started taking small crews of “citizen scientists” in a five-person mini sub for $250,000 per person..OceanGate said in a brief statement Tuesday that CEO Stockton Rush "is aboard the submersible as a member of the crew.".“We are exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely,” it said on Monday, according to the BBC.“Our entire focus is on the crew members in the submersible and their families.”.“We are working toward the safe return of the crew members,” it added.British billionaire Hamish Harding, chairman of Action Aviation, wrote on Facebook he would be on the missing sub."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," he wrote. "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. We started steaming from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada yesterday and are planning to start dive operations around 4 am tomorrow morning. Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do.""The team on the sub has a couple of legendary explorers, some of which have done over 30 dives to the RMS Titanic since the 1980s including PH Nargeolet.".The adventurer helped build ice runways in Antarctica, captured the Guinness World Record for circumnavigation of the earth via North and South Poles in a Gulfstream G650ER in 46 hours 40 minutes, dove to the deepest point of the Mariana Trench, the Challenger Deep, in a two-man submarine to the lowest point in the world's oceans to a depth of 36,000 ft., and flew to space onboard New Shepard, as part of the Blue Origin NS-21 mission, on 4 June 2022..The BBC reported British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman are two of the five on board. Dawood is one of Pakistans richest men..Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a former French Navy diver who explored the Titanic dozens of times before, is also on the vessel..The Guardian reported the company’s website had a planned eight-day, seven-night expedition to the wreck planned for 12-20 June. A maximum of six visitors were scheduled to depart and return to St John’s, Newfoundland..“Follow in Jacques Cousteau’s footsteps and become an underwater explorer — beginning with a dive to the wreck of the RMS Titanic. This is your chance to step outside of everyday life and discover something truly extraordinary,” OceanGate said on its website..“Become one of the few to see the Titanic with your own eyes. Your dive will provide not only a thrilling and unique travel experience, but also help the scientific community learn more about the wreck and the deep ocean environment. Every dive also has a scientific objective and you can learn more about the research we support here.”.The Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg on it's maiden voyage, almost 600 km off the coast of Newfoundland..The April 15, 1912 shipwreck claimed the lives of 1,514 of the 2,224 passengers and crew.
