Canadian authorities searching for a missing submersible were made aware of an acoustic “anomaly consistent with an implosion” found by U.S. counterparts, officials confirmed to CBC News, but continued searching for the doomed vessel because the data was “not definitive.”
The U.S. Navy said Thursday its acoustic sensors detected the sound in the deep area of the ocean near the Newfoundland coast where the Titanic-bound Titan sub was operating on June 18, several hours before it was reported missing.
All five passengers and crew of the Titan were presumed dead Thursday soon after a crew guiding a remotely operated vehicle spotted the Titan’s wreckage about 500 metres from the Titanic’s bow, almost four kilometres below the surface of the North Atlantic.
In an email, a senior U.S. Navy official said an analysis of the acoustic data was shared with the “unified command” conducting the search, which was led by the U.S. Coast Guard and included the Canadian Coast Guard and OceanGate, the company operating the Titan.
In a statement to CBC News, a spokesperson for Canada’s Department of National Defence confirmed on Friday that the data was shared with the Canadian Armed Forces but it was determined the “information assessment was not definitive” that the Titan was the source of the anomaly.
“There was still hope for safe recovery,” spokesperson Jessica Lamirande said. “As such, search and rescue efforts continued.”
The U.S. Navy has long maintained a network of listening devices on the floor of the North Atlantic to detect hostile submarines. But information about the anomaly wasn’t shared with the public until after the Titan’s wreckage was found and all five aboard were presumed dead.
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