A ray of hope? Expert says banging sounds near missing submersible is ‘encouraging’ that passengers are alive

A submarine expert has claimed that the ‘banging’ sound picked up by sonar amid a search for the missing submersible in 30-minute intervals is “encouraging” that the five people on board are still alive. The five passengers onboard the Titan submersible have been identified as OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, French diver Paul Henry Nargeolet, and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman.

Recently, sonar picked up banging sounds from underneath the water. A memo obtained by CNN said it was unclear exactly when the banging was heard on Tuesday, June 20, and for how long. More sounds were later heard, but they were not described as “banging.”

“Additional acoustic feedback was heard and will assist in vectoring surface assets and also indicating continued hope of survivors,” an update reads. It has also been reported that a white rectangular object was spotted in the water by a Canadian P3 aircraft.

“This tells me a huge amount,” Frank Owen, a former Australian submarine officer and now search-and-rescue director, told New York Post. “On board the Titan is the French former Navy diver, the Titanic expert [Paul-Henry Nargeolet]. But also because he’s a diver, he understands the way search forces look for submarines that are lost … submariners are taught that if they’re stuck in a disabled submarine on the hour and the half hour they bang the hull for three minutes, then they stop. They don’t make any more noise.

“So the fact that we’re hearing banging at 30-minute internals tells me that the people inside are sending a message that says, ‘We understand that you would be looking for us and this is how you might expect us to react.’ So, it’s very encouraging,” he added.

The submersible began its journey on Sunday morning, June 18. About one hour and 45 minutes into its descent, the vessel lost contact with the Polar Prince, the support ship that transported it to the site. The Titan reportedly sends a ping to the Polar Prince every 15 minutes. The last ping was received while the vessel floated above the Titanic wreckage at about 3 pm local time.