VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The desperate search continues for a missing submersible called The Titan. It disappeared Sunday morning, 900 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, while on a deep-sea journey to see the Titanic wreckage.
Five people are on board. For two days straight, sonar buoys detected several banging noises underwater, but investigations so far have turned up nothing.
The clock is ticking, as the submersible is expected to run out of oxygen by Thursday morning.
News of the missing sub has led Alfred Garr to reflect on what it's like to be in a deep-sea vessel.
Garr, who lives in Virginia Beach, shared his experience as part of a three-person crew to recover artifacts near the Titanic wreckage.
"This is the 'Titanic Dive' patch from 2000," Garr said, as he showed off a jacket he wore on the trip.
He traveled in a Russian-built submersible to salvage artifacts under a company and curator nearly 23 years ago.
"It takes two-and-a-half hours to descend the two-and-a-half miles, and then two-and-a-half to come up... and then you're down there for eight hours," Garr said.
He described it as a surreal and transformational experience going into the deep sea. Garr's three-person crew reached the area of the wreckage.
"And literally got trapped for about 30 minutes underneath the fantail," he said.
They eventually got out. However, Garr can't help but think of the five-person crew whose tourist submersible hasn't been seen since Sunday morning.
"It's cramped and it's not comfortable. The moment we got stuck was very... you're doing a lot of praying, you're doing a lot of praying at that point," he said.
"The surface search is now approximately two times the size of Connecticut, and the sub-surface search is up to 2.5 miles deep," said Capt. Jamie Frederick, a response coordinator for the first district of the U.S. Coast Guard.
Searchers are bringing and using all kinds of resources, including those from our area.
"We've received incredible support with aviation assets from our Coast Guard Air station in Elizabeth City, the Air National Guard, and Canadian Armed Forces," said Frederick.
13News Now knows of another local tie to the search and rescue efforts.
Lt. Cdr. Rich Kantharia with the Royal Navy is part of the unified team of experts assisting near the North Atlantic. In a news conference Wednesday, he announced himself as an exchange officer who serves out of Norfolk.