Coast Guard briefing on missing submersible near Cape Cod: transcript

Key points

• The operator reported the submersible overdue the previous afternoon, with five people on board, and the Coast Guard began a surface search with the Polar Prince.
• The search area is about 900 miles east of Cape Cod in water roughly 13,000 feet deep; C-130 aircraft and Canadian aircraft, including a P-8 dropping sonar buoys, are searching.
• The operator said the vessel was designed with 96 hours of emergency sustainment, and the Coast Guard estimated 70 to 96 hours remained.
• Underwater search is currently limited to listening with sonar buoys and ship sonar, and more commercial and Canadian assets are on their way.
• The Coast Guard is working with the U.S. Navy, Canadian Armed Forces and private industry on possible underwater rescue capability.
• He would not confirm who was aboard, citing family notification; the operator described one pilot and four mission specialists.

Chapters

1. 0:01Opening statement and first response
2. 1:16Aircraft, search area and remote conditions
3. 3:15Surface and underwater search with sonar
4. 4:46Questions: 96-hour air supply and identities
5. 6:28Planning for a possible underwater rescue
6. 7:10Sonar range and remaining time estimate
7. 10:13Families, Titanic site risks and safety advice
8. 11:08Aircraft and vessels deployed, final question

Full transcript

0:01Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Rear Admiral John Longer. I'm the commander of the 1st Coast Guard District here in Austin, Massachusetts. And in this case, I have completed the Coast Guard search and rescue operation for the emergency of the submersible. Yesterday afternoon, we were notified by the operator of the submersible vessel that it was overdue and it had five persons on board the submersible.

0:32So we're working very closely at this point to make sure that we're doing everything that we can do to locate the submersible and rescue those on board. Our thoughts are with the crew members and the families of those on board the submersible at this time and we are doing everything that we can do to make sure that we can locate and rescue those on board. So after receiving the call we launched well reached out to the vessel Polar Prince and began a surface search looking for the submersible.

1:16At the same time, we launched a C-130 aircraft to conduct an aerial search, both visual and radar, of the scene. We've subsequently coordinated with the Canadian Coast Guard and Canadian Armed Forces to deploy additional assets to the scene. The Canadians have had a C-130 aircraft searching as well, in addition to also having a P-8 submarine search aircraft deploy as well and put sonar buoys in the water in an attempt to listen.

1:57The location of the search is approximately 900 miles east of Cape Cod in a water depth of roughly 13,000 feet. It is a remote area and it is a challenge to conduct a search in that remote area. but we are deploying all available assets to make sure that we can locate the craft and rescue the people on board.

2:33Going into this evening, we will continue to fly aircraft and move additional vessels into the area. In this remote part of our search and rescue responsibility, oftentimes we rely on commercial operators to be the first vessels on scene. And so we've been in touch with additional commercial vessels that are operating in the area, as well as initiating the movement of additional Canadian Coast Guard assets and U.S. Coast Guard surface asset into the area over the course of the next couple of days.

3:15Adding to the complexity of this case is the fact that this was a submersible vessel, And so we need to make sure that we're looking both on the surface for the vessel if it had surfaced back to the water, but it somehow lost communications with the vessel. And that's what the aircraft and the surface search vessel is allowing us to do right now. But we're also having to search in the water column.

3:45And we're doing that right now with the use of sonar buoys and sonar on the ship that's out there to listen for any sounds that we can detect in the water column. Over the course of the next couple of days, we anticipate adding additional capability to conduct additional search in the water as those commercial assets arrive on scene.

4:15Again, our thoughts are with the families and the crew members on board this submersible. and we're working very closely with all U.S. and international partners to provide any capability that we can provide to search for the overdue vessel and rescue the crew members on board. At this point, we'll take questions.

4:46There are reports that some may be trapped in wreckage in the past. so in terms of locating the overdue submersible we have to make sure that we're looking on both the surface using aerial and and surface vessels but then expanding into underwater search as well right now our capability is limited to Sonar buoys and listening for sounds. But, you know, we're working very hard to increase the capability.

5:21We understand from the operator of the vessel that the vessel was designed with a 96-hour sustainment capability if there was an emergency on board. And so we're using that time, making the best use of every moment of that time to locate the vessel. Can you talk about who was in it? At this point, I'm not in a position to confirm the identity of anybody on board the vessel.

5:57Out of respect for the families, we're going through the notification process, and more updates will be forthcoming. It seems like if that vessel could be sitting in the box to get some sort of rescue vehicle down to it, correct me about that? That's absolutely part of the overall planning for this search case.

6:28Right now, we're focused on locating the vessel, but at the same time, if we find this vessel in the water, then we will have to affect some sort of rescue or coordinating. Reaching out to different partners within the U.S. Navy, within the Canadian Armed Forces, and within private industry to understand what underwater rescue capability might be available. So, at this moment, we're focused on the search and understanding the capabilities of the vessels that are deploying to the scene.

7:10So, the sonar capabilities within the sonar buoys and within the hull of the commercial vessel that is out there operating on site, those aren't Coast Guard sonars, they are capable of listening to a depth of 13,000 feet as I understand it. There were 96 hours of oxygen. So in terms of the square mileage of the search, I don't have that number right at this moment, but it includes both a surface area that we're looking at.

7:59And a subsurface area. And so we'll get you the exact number for the square mileage of the search. In terms of the hours, we understood that that was 96 hours of rescue or emergency capability from the operator. And so we anticipate that there's somewhere between 70 to the full 96 hours available at this point. So it's certainly the purpose of the submarine was to, as I understand, the purpose of the submersible was to provide opportunity to visit the rec site and explore the rec site. So that's that's a possibility. Again right now our focus is getting on as much capability into the area as we can and understanding that full capability of those assets that are being deployed. Our aerial

9:03assets that are being deployed have the capability to do both visual and radar searches and and the Canadians asset had the ability to drop sonar buoys and listen and so we're using all that information to improve our search people So we're working through that right now, but what we're really focused on at the moment is really locating the vessel, which could either be in the surface or subsurface.

9:38And so we're bringing in technical expertise to understand both the dynamics of underwater search and underwater rescue operations. Thank you. So as search and rescue professionals, you know, we work very, very hard and our crews take this personally. Our first thoughts are with the crew members and the families of those on board.

10:13And so we want to make sure that we have done absolutely everything that we can do to locate their family members and bring them home safe. And so they're first and foremost in our thoughts every moment of this search operation. Sir, how common are these threats to the Titanic in general? I don't have any details on how often folks visit the wreck site there at Titanic nor any specific comments on the dangers involved. Certainly every time ships go to sea they encounter hazards and dangers and so having properly prepared vessels, properly prepared crew members and making sure that you practice emergency procedures, good practical advice.

11:08for anybody that goes to sea so at this point I'm not going to just discuss any information about the families and communications with the families and so we'll provide that with future updates so the Coast Guard has two C-130 aircraft in addition to the command team that's working here we have two C-130 aircraft deployed. The Canadians have a C-130 aircraft and a P-8 aircraft. We also have access to and will launch this evening a C-130 aircraft from the New York National Guard to make sure that we have air assets, sufficient air assets up there.

12:03On the surface, we have the commercial operator that's been on-site, and we're bringing additional surface search assets into play, which will also bring in some subsurface search capability. last question please I understand from the operator that there was one pilot or submersible commander operator on board and that there were four mission specialists on board is the term that the operator uses for them so five five total you have to ask the operator what that means well what we're focused on is finding those five people. Thank you very much for your time.

Source and licence

Recording: File:Coast Guard holds press briefing for missing submersible 900 miles east of Cape Cod.webm by U.S. Coast Guard video by Petty Officer 3rd Class Briana Carter, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The transcript is machine speech-to-text by the TidyTools Audio & video transcriber; the summary, key points and chapters were written by Claude from that transcript. Both may contain errors: check the recording before quoting it.