(Fox News) A rescue mission is underway after a vessel used to take tourists to see the underwater wreck of the Titanic went missing in the Atlantic Ocean on Monday.
The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed to Fox News Digital that they were currently searching for a lost submersible. Tourists can charter the small craft for visits to the infamous ship through OceanGate Expeditions, which recently announced new mission crews for a North Atlantic trip on social media.
The Coast Guard says there are five people on board, consisting of one crew member and 4 “mission specialists.” They are currently conducting an air search for the vehicle, as it is designed to surface automatically if there are technical issues.
Despite being in the middle of the North Atlantic, we have the internet connection we need to make our #Titanic dive operations a success – thank you @Starlink! pic.twitter.com/sujBmPr3JD
— OceanGate Expeditions (@OceanGateExped) June 1, 2023
OceanGate charges tourists $250,000 for a spot on their expeditions to the Titanic wreckage. The company has yet to comment on the disappearance, and it could not immediately be contacted due to a surge of internet traffic crashing the company’s website on Monday.
The Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage from England to New York City.
Monday’s incident comes months after the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) released never-before-seen footage of the Titanic’s wreckage in February. The haunting video was captured in 1986, when the WHOI made 11 dives nearly 12,500 feet below the ocean’s surface to explore the wreckage.
