and air as set searches at that point. you mentioned that the search operation is very complicated. [ inaudible question ] well, it s this is a complex search, and it s complex for a variety of reasons. you re talking about a search area that s 900 miles east of cape cod, 400 miles south of st. john s, so logistically speaking it s hard to bring assets to bear. it takes time, coordination, and then we re dealing with two pieces of you re dealing with a surface and sub surface search. it s complicated. will the u.s. navy be able to get salvage equipment on time before the air runs out. obviously getting salvage equipment on scene is a top priority. unified command is work thorough that to prioritize what equipment we can get there. there are ongoing operations
guard, aircraft, and polar prince, which searched a combined 7,600 square miles. these search efforts focused on surface work aircraft searching by sight and radar and sub surface with p-3 aircraft, we re able to drop and monitor buoys. to date, those search efforts have not yielded any results. search efforts continued through last night and today. today the vessel deep energy arrived on scene with capability. they rendezvoused and a dive at the last known position. that operation is currently ongoing. additionally, a canadian p-3 aircraft is conducting a search of the area, and several
thanks for the reporting. appreciate it. jim? i want to bring in rick mercar. rick, good to have you on. thanks so much. thank you. first i want to talk about the attempted search and rescue operation at this point. an area the size of connecticut, and we have to keep in mind, that then extends 2 tw1/2 miles down. an imcomprehensibly large area to search. they say no progress so far. is the search conceivable even given the resources they have in place? well, i mean, i kind of hate to say this, but the coast guard said it s a complex search. i agree with them. it s a titanic search, point
determine what the capabilities will be and how that s really going to help them further the search here. reporter: yeah, it s very difficult, very challenging, because not only are you dealing with, as you say, the needle in the hay stack nanalogy, but you re dealing with the weather. winds at five to six winds are at a point where they say it s manageable at this point. so there is still so much more that they re having to deal with here, and again, they have a number of assets that are in the area. they ve got c 130s in the area, searching on the offchance that this submersible has surfaced into is in the area. but once again, the thing that really struck many of us here is that 40-hour or so window now that they re looking at, because this is what these five people on board have left to breathe. just 40 hours.