Mystery ‘banging’ sounds in missing Titanic sub search area heard for second day

Noises, described as ‘banging’, picked up by Canadian P3 surveillance plane flying over search area

The US Coast Guard says that mystery sounds and banging noises have been heard from the search area for the Titanic submersible Titan for a second day.

Officials said that the noises, picked up by a Canadian military P3 plane above the search site, are “inconclusive” and are still being analysed by Navy experts.

“With respect to the noises specifically, we don’t know what they are, to be frank with you,” Captain Jamie Frederick of the First Coast Guard District told reporters on Wednesday.

Cp Frederick said that the area of the search was now twice the size of the state of Connecticut on the surface and was being conducted 2.5 miles deep below the Atlantic.

“This is a search and rescue mission, 100 per cent,” Cap Frederick said. “When you’re in the middle of a search and rescue case, you always have hope.”

And he added: “Several P3 flights have heard noises yesterday and we relocated assets immediately.

“I think you need to be careful, we need to have hope but I can’t tell you what the noises are but we are searching where the noises are and that’s all we can do at this point.

“My understanding is that the P3 had heard some noises today as well.”

Carl Hartsfield of the Wood Hole Oceanographic Institution told reporters that the noises had been described as “banging” and that they were being analysed by maritime acoustics experts.

He went on to say that there was a large number of vessels now in the area which all give off noises picked up by sensors.

Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood are missing along with CEO and founder of OceanGate Expeditions Stockton Rush, British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding and renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

Titan began its journey to the wreck site, which sits at a depth of 12,500 in the Atlantic Ocean, on Sunday morning.

About an hour and 45 minutes later, the Titan lost contact with its surface ship, the Polar Prince. The Titan is equipped with a four-day emergency oxygen supply.

Mr Dawood and his son, who are both British citizens, are part of one of Pakistan’s leading families, with investments in the country’s agriculture and industry.