Crews are expanding the search area for the missing submersible that was traveling to see the Titanic wreckage, officials said on Wednesday.
Rescue crews continue to search for the Titan submersible, which disappeared on Sunday with five passengers onboard. Captain Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, Suleman Dawood, Paul-Henry Nargeolet and Stockton Rush were traveling to see the wreckage of the RMS Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean and were about 900 miles east of Cape Cod.
"The surface search is now approximately two times the size of Connecticut and the subsurface search is up to two and a half miles deep," U.S. Captain Jamie Frederick said during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
"This is a search and rescue mission, 100 percent...We are smack dab in the middle of search and rescue and we'll continue to put every available asset that we have in an effort to find the Titan and the crew members."
The submersible is operated by OceanGate Expeditions and the company previously told Newsweek that they "are deeply grateful for the urgent and extensive assistance we are receiving from multiple government agencies and deep-sea companies as we seek to reestablish contact with the submersible. We pray for the safe return of the crew and passengers, and we will provide updates as they are available."
The U.S. Coast Guard also recently said noises were detected in the area where search efforts are taking place.
"As a result, ROV operations were relocated in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises. Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue," the U.S. Coast Guard Northeast said in a tweet.
However, during the press conference on Wednesday, Frederick said he was unable to say exactly "what the noises are." Officials previously said that the passengers have enough breathable oxygen to last until Thursday.
Carl Hartsfield, the director Woods Hole Oceanographic Systems Laboratory and a retired Navy captain, also spoke about the noises heard during the press conference and said that officials "have to put the whole picture together in context and they have to eliminate potential manmade sources other than the Titan."
Simon Boxall, a professor of oceanography at the University of Southampton, told Newsweek on Tuesday that the submersible may have become "snagged" on something, such as the wreckage of the Titanic.
On Tuesday, David Pogue of CBS News spoke with the BBC about his own experience on the Titan submersible and explained how the only way out is to surface.
"There's no backup, there's no escape pod...It's, 'Get to the surface or die,'" Pogue said.
Newsweek was previously directed to the press conference after reaching out to the U.S. Coast Guard via email.
Update 6/21/23, 4:43 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.
