The passengers trapped on the missing Titan submarine in the depths of the Atlantic are likely to be in “intense emotional turmoil” as they enter their last 24 hours of oxygen supply, a forensic psychiatrist has told MailOnline.
Rescue teams are mobilized and race against time to find the missing ship with five people on board, which disappeared on Sunday during its descent to the ancient wreckage of the Titanic that lies 12,500 feet below the ocean’s surface.
Remotely controlled vehicles (ROV) have been searched in the area where Canadian aircraft detected submarine noises on Tuesday.
According to Dr Sohom Das, a British forensic psychiatrist, those aboard the OceanGate Expeditions ship are probably still hoping they can still be found, but as the clock ticks, he says “reality will seep in.”
On board the submarine are British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, 58, and Pakistan-born businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, with his 19-year-old son Suleman, both British citizens.
The passengers trapped on the missing Titan submarine in the depths of the Atlantic are likely to be in ‘intense emotional turmoil’ as they enter their last 24 hours of oxygen supply, forensic psychiatrist Doctor Sohom Das (pictured) tells MailOnline
Rescue teams are mobilized and race against time to find the missing ship (pictured) with five people on board, which disappeared on Sunday during its descent to the ancient wreckage of the Titanic that lies 12,500 feet below the ocean’s surface
Popping sounds have been detected during the massive search for the missing submarine Titanic
French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, and Stockton Rush, founder and CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, are also said to be on board.
“I think they’re just in intense emotional turmoil,” Das told MailOnline.
‘On the one hand, some of them will still have hope. There will be a part of them that believes they will be found and saved.
“But I think as time goes on, reality will seep in,” he said.
As time passes, NHS doctors said the trapped passengers will have many different reactions to their situation, and their ‘reactions, their emotions, may change over time.
“So at some point they’re going to be quite thinking about their lives when they’re literally staring into death’s jaws and at other times they’re probably going to feel extremely panicked, extremely anxious,” he said.
The small, 7 meter long submarine is just big enough for the five passengers. There are no chairs and only one toilet with a curtain for privacy. The ship departed around 12:00 GMT on Sunday morning, but shortly afterwards lost contact with its mothership during what should have been a two-hour dive to Titanic.
Titan is thought to have enough oxygen for five people for 96 hours. The rough deadline for when the submarine runs out of air, based on the US Coast Guard estimate, is 10am GMT (6am EST) – now less than 24 hours away.
“They’re going to have physical symptoms,” Dr. Das said, “from hyperventilation to dizziness to chest pain.” They will become emotionally overwhelmed trying to get a handle on what is happening to them.
‘I suppose none of them have claustrophobic disorder. Otherwise they wouldn’t be in that situation in the first place.
Nevertheless, I am sure that the intense, claustrophobic nature of the scenario they find themselves in as they face the possibility of losing their lives will only add to the overall tension and the feelings of fear they have ,’ he added.
One of the participants in the expedition is billionaire Hamish Harding (pictured), CEO of Action Aviation in Dubai. He excitedly posted on social media that he was there on Sunday
Shahzada Dawood, 48, a board member of the charity Prince’s Trust, and his son Suleman Dawood, 19, (pictured together) are aboard the missing submarine
French Navy veteran PH Nargeolet (left) is believed to be taking part in the expedition, along with Stockton Rush (right), CEO of the OceanGate expedition
A glimmer of hope was offered on Tuesday when noises were heard from the depths of the ocean, suggesting the passengers were trying to signal to rescuers.
However, the ship has still not been located and a rescue mission could take some time, even if it is found before the deadline.
‘The sonobuoys detected sound in the water. We don’t know the source of that noise,” U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral John Mauger told CBS on Wednesday. Two ROVs and a surface craft are being used to locate the source of the sound, he said.
“This is an incredibly complex site,” Mauger said, noting that metal and other underwater objects made it difficult to pinpoint the source.
The wreck of the British ocean liner, which sank when it hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage in 1912, lies on the sea floor at a depth of about 12,500 feet.
It is about 900 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and 400 miles south of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Teams from the United States, Canada and France are involved in the search in an area of open sea that is larger than the US state of Connecticut or about half the size of Belgium.
Planes and vessels from the US Coast Guard, US Navy and Canadian military had scoured more than 7,600 square miles of the North Atlantic, US Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick said Tuesday.
The Canadian military dropped sonar buoys to listen for sounds that could be coming from the Titan and a commercial pipe-laying ship with a remote-controlled deep-sea submarine was also searching, he said.
A French research vessel carrying an underwater deep-sea diving robot has been sent to the area at the request of the US Navy and is expected to arrive later on Wednesday, French ocean research institute Ifremer said.
The US Coast Guard said Canada’s Lockheed P-3 Orion aircraft, which have underground surveillance equipment to detect submarines, detected the underwater sounds in the search area on Tuesday.
Remote submarine equipment was deployed to the area where the sounds were detected and data from the P-3 aircraft was shared with the US Navy’s experts “for further analysis that will be considered in future search plans,” the US Coast Guard wrote in her Twitter statement.
It did not provide details about the nature of the sounds, but CNN and Rolling Stone magazine, citing internal US government communications, reported that Canadian planes observed popping noises in the area at 30-minute intervals.
Rolling Stone said the sounds were picked up by sonar buoys and the sonar picked up more thumping four hours later.
CNN, citing a US government memo, said further noises were heard about four hours after the banging was detected, but said the second occurrence was not described as banging.
Experts say rescuers face major obstacles both in finding the Titan and rescuing the people on board.
In the event of a mid-dive emergency, Titan’s pilot likely would have released weights to float back to the surface, said Alistair Greig, a professor of marine engineering at University College London.
But he said without any communications, it would be difficult to locate the van-sized submarine in the Atlantic Ocean.
The submarine is bolted on the outside, preventing occupants from escaping unassisted even if it surfaces.
If Titan were trapped on the ocean floor, a rescue would face even greater challenges due to the immense pressure and total darkness at depths greater than 2 miles.
Titanic expert Tim Matlin said it would be “almost impossible to conduct a sub-to-sub rescue” on the sea floor.
The sinking of the Titanic, which killed more than 1500 people, has long been immortalized in books and movies. Public interest was renewed by the 1997 blockbuster ‘Titanic’.