and here on the left, paul henri nargeolet, the former french navy diver missing on board the current mission. now also carrying three british passengers, the billionaire explorer hamish harding and businessman shahzada dawood and his teenage son suleman, questions are being asked about the safety of the craft. let s be straight, it s not looking good. 0xygen s obviously very low. it s notjust oxygen, because here s another safety issue it can only be opened from the outside. so if it surfaced, they re still going to have oxygen problems. but still, more help is on the way. after technical difficulties loading a british underwater robot on to this us plane, it ll now go on a later flight. but at these depths around this iconic wreck and in pitch darkness, no one s ever been in any doubt the odds have always been stacked
intact. ,, ., ~ ., , to the surface if it is still intact. ,, ., ~ ., to the surface if it is still intact. ,, ., . ., , intact. stefan williams oining us from the university intact. stefan williams oining us from the university of intact. stefan williams joining us from the university of sydney, i intact. stefan williams joining us - from the university of sydney, thank you so much. you re watching bbc news. joining me now isjonathan amos, ourscience news. joining me now isjonathan amos, our science correspondent. jonathan, we talk about the depths of the ocean. just give us a sense of the ocean. just give us a sense of the ocean. just give us a sense of the conditions down there. the huge pressures, the very low temperatures and pitch darkness. it is going to be tough for that crew of five in that vessel, if indeed they are still alive, because we simply don t know at the moment. we got confirmation from the us coast guard early this morning uk time that they were investigating
harder. steven mcginty knows. it s hard to imagine two miles of water above you, the immense darks in, no natural light. the weight of the crushing weight, so you re operating in pitch darkness at a depth that many things will fail. his book the dive is about the deepest ocean rescue to date. the pisces 3 was off the coast of ireland. for three days, ships, submarines and robotic vessels struggled to get lines attached to all up the submersible. finally, success. did you begin to wonder if you would get up? not at all. we had about a day s supplies. we could talk to the surface all the time, so there was no trouble at all. reporter: not exactly.
by 300 metres. if titan a stack of the depth and was heading two, 3000 800 metres, it will be in pitch darkness. a major concern is that undersea currents could have swept the sub into records which could have trapped it. one of the safety substance on the submersible like titan are weights that could be jettisoned if something could go wrong causing the vessel to flow back up to the surface on its own. that wheat release system may have failed. there is now a french research vessel approaching the site equipped with remotely operating undersea vehicle called victor 6001 of the few vessels in the world that can operate at this extreme death. in fact be deployed in the search and in a possible rescue but even that robot has limits to its capabilities. it that robot has limits to its capabilities. that robot has limits to its ca abilities. . ., capabilities. it might the tangle or cut or free the capabilities. it might the tangle or cut or free the submersible - capabilities. it might
the possible locations. if the sub can be located, it could mean a rescue attempt at extraordinary depths. military submarines operate at about 300 metres. if titan is stuck at the depth it was heading to, 3,800 metres, it will be in pitch darkness. a major concern is that undersea currents could have swept the sub into wreckage, which then trapped it. one of the safety systems on submersibles like titan is weights that can be jettisoned if something goes wrong, causing the vessel to float back up to the surface on its own. that weight release system might have failed. there s now a french research vessel approaching the site that s equipped with a remotely operated undersea vehicle called victor 6000, one of the few vessels in the world that can operate at these extreme depths. that could be deployed in the search and in a possible rescue, but even that robot has limits to its capabilities.