STORY: The titanic sub runs out of oxygen at 6am Eastern Time on Thursday.
That’s the deadline rescue teams were racing towards to try and find the 5 people on board alive.
Here is a timeline of events since the sub set off and the race by search teams to find it, according to the U.S. Coast Guard’s estimate.
Jamie Frederick, Response coordinator for rescue efforts – First Coast Guard District:
“This is an incredibly complex search operation.”
Jannicke Mikkelsen – Explorer and friend of Hamish Harding:
“We’re losing time. And we’re losing opportunity to find them alive.”
On Saturday evening British billionaire and adventurer Hamish Harding, one of those aboard the submersible, posts on Facebook saying: “A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow.”
He doesn’t post on Facebook again.
At 8am on Sunday Eastern time, the Titan submersible begins its descent, triggering the 96 hour countdown
which is the window of air supply the vessel has from the time it is sealed.
It should be a two-hour descent to the wreck of the Titanic
which lies at a depth of 12,500 feet in the North Atlantic.
But 1 hour and 45 minutes after setting off, communications between the sub and the surface vessel are lost.
The submersible had been scheduled to return to the surface at 3pm, but it fails to appear.
The Coast Guard is notified at 5:40.
By Monday, U.S. and Canadian ships and planes are swarming the area,
some dropping sonar buoys that can monitor to a depth of 13,000 feet.
Search teams stress that this is a remote area and a challenge to conduct a search.
Officials also ask commercial vessels for help.
More people on board are named: Pakistani-born businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman.
Their family ask for prayers for their safety.
Later on Tuesday, noises – reported to be banging sounds – are detected over several hours by a Canadian aircraft – which is equipped with gear to trace submarines.
Reports suggest the banging sounds came at 30-minute intervals.
Hamish Harding’s friend says hopes are not high.
“As it stands right now, it would be a miracle if they are recovered alive.”
At 2am on Wednesday the U.S. Coast Guard announces it’s deploying remotely operated vehicle searches to the area where the sounds were detected.
The data are also sent to U.S. Navy experts for analysis.
A French research ship, equipped with a deep-sea diving vessel, makes its way to the search area.
“The surface search is now approximately two times the size of Connecticut, and the sub-surface search is up to 2.5 miles deep.”
6am Eastern Time on Thursday 22nd June is the rough deadline for when the vessel’s air will run out, according to its specifications.
But experts say the air supply depends on a range of factors,
including whether the submersible still has power and how calm the people aboard have remained.