‘Debris Field’ found near Titanic Wreck in search for missing submersible

A “debris field” has been discovered by an underwater robot searching near the wreck of the Titanic for a missing submersible with five people on board, rescuers said Thursday. The development came after rescuers insisted that the multinational mission to locate the craft was still focused on finding the crew alive despite fears that the vessel’s oxygen may have run out. “Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information,” the US Coast Guard said in a tweet. The coast guard said the debris field was found “within the search area by an ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) near the Titanic.” Two more robots were deployed Thursday in the hunt for the Titan sub, lost somewhere in a vast swathe of the North Atlantic between the ocean’s surface and more than two miles (nearly four kilometers) below. Based on the sub’s capacity to hold up to 96 hours of emergency air, rescuers had estimated that the passengers, which include fee-paying tourists, may have run out of oxygen in the early hours of Thursday. But as that possible deadline passed, US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said rescuers were “fully committed” to search operations. “People’s will to live really needs to be accounted for as well. We’re going to continue searching,” he told NBC’s Today show. A surge of assets and experts have joined the operation in the past day, and sonar has picked up unidentified underwater noises.