The race against time continues.
With about 24 hours of oxygen estimated remaining for the passengers onboard the missing OceanGate submersible Titan, rescuers have given loved ones hoping for a miracle a reason to hold on longer, with authorities revealing a Canadian P-3 aircraft discovered "banging" noises coming in 30-minute intervals in the search area on Tuesday.
Friends of the missing explorers say the sounds are a "beacon of hope" for them, particularly after days of radio silence coming from the dark depths since the vessel lost contact with Canadian research vessel Polar Prince Sunday afternoon.
"[The noises] are a great beacon of hope for any of us who are anxiously awaiting news," said Bill Willard, a friend of Titanic researcher and retired French Navy Commander Paul-Henry Nargeolet, who is reportedly one of the five trapped inside the submersible.
"This is a great opportunity if it's a real feed. If this is something that is actually happening down there, they should be able to use echolocation to try and hopefully locate the source of the banging."
Speaking with "Fox & Friends First" Wednesday, he speculated the banging could be done in Morse code to alert rescuers.
"I hope that they've already done [analyzed] that to see if anybody was sending up any kind of coded signal rather than just making noise," he said. "I'm sure they've done that."
He also suggested if the submersible is eventually located, rescuers could attempt to use an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) to manipulate the ballast that could potentially be weighing the vessel down at the ocean floor. He said the submersible could then float to the surface.
ONE OF PAKISTAN'S RICHEST MEN, SON, ABOARD MISSING OCEANGATE TITANIC TOURIST SUBMARINE
"One of the ones that's on-site is a cable-laying ROV, and what they may want to do is send that ROV down once they locate it, have that ROV attach that cable as a tether to pull that up. If it were me, I would try to manipulate the ROV into releasing the ballast and you get Archimedes' Principle of flotation."
He theorized, based on reports, the submersible could have suffered a power failure since it did not drop its ballast and float to the surface as designed.
"If that's the case, it just drifted down and landed on the bottom of the ocean, and they've been down there in the dark, in the cold, for a couple of days now."
Normally, he said, submersibles have a back-up system to release the ballast in case of power failure.
Willard called his friend an "incredible, incredible person" and contributor to the Titanic community as he said all the members onboard were to their own respective fields.
"There's not many people like P.H.," he said. "Integrity, the consummate professional… we're all clinging to every bit of hope that we can. I've heard it described as we feel like we've been kicked in the gut. This feeling is very similar to the feeling that America had when the Challenger exploded in 1986, except a lot of us who are friends with P.H… we have a [Titanic] family member on board."
He said the "best training" in the missing passengers' situation is experience, adding that Nargeolet "has that on his side."
Jannicke Mikkelsen, a close friend of British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, also weighed in on rescue efforts Wednesday, joining "Fox & Friends" to recount her last text messages to Harding before he boarded the submersible.
"I received a message from Hamish right before he went to his dive – a really casual message [that said] ‘I’m going diving to the Titanic now. The weather window's opened.' I equally casually answered him with ‘Godspeed, Hamish,' and wished him good luck in our expedition language."
Mikkelsen, who met Harding through the connection of former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, said he employed her to help with technology to create documentaries of his expeditions.
"Fox & Friends" co-host Brian Kilmeade asked Mikkelsen how she feels about the reports of banging noises that could be a sign of life.
"It gives me hope," she responded. "It means it's life. If it does it every 30 minutes, that means they're alive, but now all of these ‘what-if’ questions come into play. What if they're alive? What if they can't get rescued? What if they run out of oxygen? Is [the sound] them? Is it not them? It's terrifying, absolutely terrifying."
