Search and Rescue Teams Scour North Atlantic for Missing Submersible Operated by Washington State-Based OceanGate

A submersible operated by Washington state-based OceanGate has gone missing on a trip to the Titanic wreck site in the North Atlantic. Search and rescue teams are currently combing the area for the vessel.

David Pogue, a CBS News correspondent who was aboard the Titan for a story last year, said the vessel should be bobbing on the ocean’s surface given that features allow it to rise from the depths of the sea without electricity, and even if everyone aboard is passed out.

Pogue said the Titan didn’t have a beacon similar to an aircraft’s emergency locator transmitter, but “such a beacon was discussed.” He also revealed that on his expedition last summer, the submersible got “lost on the sea floor for a few hours.”

Pogue noted that the submersible never lost communication with its mother ship, and they could still send short texts to the sub, but did not know where it was. He said that if the vessel isn’t floating, it “could only mean two things: either they got snagged on something on the bottom of the sea, which is pretty unlikely.”

The search and rescue teams are continuing their efforts to locate the missing submersible. It is unclear at this time what happened to the vessel and its crew.