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Five people began what promised to be a “unique travel experience” with a visit to the wreck of the Titanic on Sunday at 6am local time (plus five in Lisbon). The expedition was scheduled to last eight days, but an hour and 45 minutes after boarding, when the vessel was about 700 kilometres south of St John of Newfoundland, Canada, the Titan submersible which has oxygen for up to 96 hours, lost contact with the support vessel “Polar Prince”. The Coast Guard in Boston, US, is now in a race against time in a search and rescue exercise involving a P-8 Poseidon aircraft and a C-130.
“For some time, we have been unable to establish communications with one of our submersible exploration vehicles that is currently visiting the Titanic wreckage site,” said OceanGate Expeditions, the company responsible for the deep-sea expeditions, assuring that it was doing everything possible to bring the crew back.
To board the Titan, a submersible measuring around 6.5 metres, the five people on board needed to pay around $250,000 (approximately €229,000) each.
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