Is this a sign of hope in the race to find the submersible’s crew? Early Wednesday morning, the US Coast Guard announced that it had picked up “underwater noise” in the North Atlantic, confirming information released overnight by the American press. “Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater sounds in the search area. As a result, ROV operations (remotely operated vehicle, editor’s note) have been moved to try to explore the origin of the noises, ”announced the first district of the American coast guard on its official Twitter account. Searches by ROV (teleported robots) “have given negative results but are continuing”.
The coast guard gave little information on the nature of these “noises”, in particular on the depth at which they were detected. According to the American magazine Rolling Stone, they would have been seen on a recurring basis. A plane “heard sounds of blows in this sector every 30 minutes. Four hours later, additional sonar was deployed and the knocking was still heard,” the magazine said.
If this is the case, this regularity is a positive sign, because “under water all kinds of noises can spread, but what is regular is human”, explains to Figaro Rear Admiral Bertrand Dumoulin. “It could therefore be a sign of life”, believes the former submariner commander, while inviting “the greatest caution at this stage”.
Would the crew tap the hull from inside the submarine? This hypothesis would be credible, because the Titan has been cut off from all communication since Sunday. These shots are heard within a perimeter of 1 to 2 kilometers.
The “underwater noises” that the Coast Guard spotted in the North Atlantic were detected by “Canadian P-3 aircraft,” they said on Twitter. “The planes send beacons into the sea. These beacons listen to the bottoms in the disappearance zone, and send back what they pick up to the planes flying over it,” explains the Navy officer to Le Figaro.
According to the former submarine commander Bertrand Dumoulin, the noises, which must be taken at this stage with the greatest caution, are in any case a valuable aid in guiding the search. “There are now two markers: the place where these knocks were perceived, as well as the starting point where the submarine plunged, from its support vessel”.
The arrival of the Atalante, Ifremer’s ship, in the evening, could be a major asset in the conduct of the research, underlines Captain Bertrand Dumoulin. On board, the Victor 6000 robot will be able to operate in the area. The device has two tools: a searchlight that will illuminate a few tens of meters – because the bottoms are very dark, and a sonar that can go up to 6000 meters deep.
