A British navy submariner and equipment from a UK firm will help the search for the missing Titan submersible, a Downing Street spokesperson said Thursday.
“At the request of US Coastguard, the UK has embedded a Royal Navy submariner to assist the search and rescue effort for the missing submarine,” the spokesperson said, according to UK’s PA Media on Thursday.
Lt. Commander Richard Kantharia “has significant knowledge of submarine warfare and dived operations and so he will obviously be bringing that experience to the search and rescue team,” the spokesperson added. The officer was on exchange with the US Navy and has been seconded to the search and rescue team, according to PA.
A British C-17 aircraft will transport “specialist commercial equipment” provided by deep sea-mapping company Magellan to St. John’s to assist with the search-and-rescue effort, PA also reported.
A spokesperson for Britain’s Royal Air Force told CNN on Thursday: “Following a request overnight from the lead organisation, RAF air transport assets are assisting with the movement of additional commercial equipment. ”
Along with the C-17, an A400 aircraft is transporting specialist loaders and crew, the air force said. Both aircraft departed RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland for Canada earlier on Thursday.
The missing submarine is carrying five people — a British adventurer, a French diver, a Pakistani father and son and the founder of OceanGate Expeditions, the company that operated the tour to the Titanic wreckage.
A massive search operation is underway in an area twice the size of Connecticut for the submersible that went missing Sunday —as officials fear the craft’s oxygen supply could run out this morning.
From Catherine Nicholls in London
