Hope of finding the missing Titanic tourist submarine took a hit when a US Coast Guard admitted that 'banging noises' that were picked up by sonar was just 'background ocean noise'.

The OceanGate Explorations submersible 'Titan' lost communication with its mothership Polar Prince roughly one hour and 45 minutes into its descent to the Titanic wreck on Sunday (June 18).

The five men on board were left with just 96 hours of oxygen, which has now ran out, but there was widespread hope yesterday (June 21) when search vessels picked up 'banging noises' for a second day in a row.

READ MORE: Titanic submarine's oxygen finally runs out for five doomed passengers

However, Rear Admiral John Mauger confirmed that the noise heard by sonar buoys was simply 'background ocean noise'.

He said: “The initial reports is that there’s a lot of the sounds that were generated were from background ocean noise, but they continue to … look for all available information there.

“What’s important to me, and what’s important as the unified command, is that we’ve continued search in the areas where noise was detected with the ROVs that we have from the time of that detection, so we’re not waiting for this analysis to take action.

“The analysis is really helpful to our overall search-and-rescue efforts, but we’re not waiting on it, we’ve moved the remote operated vehicles that we’ve had on site to those areas where noise was detected.”

Captain Jamie Frederick, from the US Coast Guard First District, said yesterday that there was 'hope' because of the noises, but admitted he didn't know the source.

• 

  Kos hotel worker forced to send chilling text to her boyfriend before 'rape and murder'

Frederick said: "Several flights heard noises yesterday… the P-3 heard noises today as well.

"We don't know what the noises are, to be frank with you… they have been described as banging noises but they are inconclusive."

And Rear Admiral John Mauger today spoke about the possibility of stopping the search effort.

He said: “There’s a time and place for that discussion, right now we have this new capability that is available on the sea floor actively conducting the search and rescue, so my focus right now is, and the focus of the unified command, is really on maximising the use of those assets that we have on scene.

“We will remain focused on the search and rescue but continue to take in all available information as we plan out our future operation.”

To stay up to date with all the latest news, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.

Source: Read Full Article