Search teams detected underwater sounds while scanning the North Atlantic for a tourist submersible that vanished with five people aboard during a deep-sea voyage to the century-old wreck of the Titanic, the U.S. coast guard said early Wednesday.
The detection of the sounds by Canadian aircraft was reported by the coast guard as the clock ticked down to the last 24 hours of the craft’s presumed oxygen supply.
Robotic undersea search operations were diverted to the area but there was still no tangible sign of the missing vessel, the coast guard said on Twitter.
“The ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue,” the coast guard said, adding, that data from the Canadian CP-140 Aurora aircraft was shared with U.S. navy experts for “further analysis which will be considered in future search plans.”
Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater noises in the search area. As a result, ROV operations were relocated in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises. Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue. 1/2
OceanGate Expeditions — the company behind the missing submersible — has been leading the efforts under the water, where it has conducted numerous successful missions in the past. That’s happening as the company’s CEO, Stockton Rush, is one of five people missing in the ocean.
The aircraft ended up detecting underwater noises in the search area on Tuesday, after which “ROV (remotely operated vehicle) operations were relocated in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises,” according to the coast guard tweets.
The coast guard did not detail the nature or extent of the sounds.
The Explorers Club — which counts Titan passengers Hamish Harding and Paul-Henri Nargeolet among its members — called the update a good sign.
“There is cause for hope based on data from the field. We understand that likely signs of life have been detected at the site,” the group wrote in a post on social media on Tuesday night.
American arrival draws crowd in St. John’s
Locals lined up at the fence outside St. John’s International Airport on Tuesday evening to watch as a trio of American C17 aircraft landed and began offloading equipment and personnel. They were met by a long line of local transport trucks.
Later in the night, a handful of spectators watched as crews unloaded crates from the trucks onto a pair of waiting Canadian Coast Guard ships, and the offshore supply vessel Horizon Arctic. The ships are now en route to the Titanic wreckage site, about 685 kilometres southeast of Newfoundland.
“It’s kind of eerie,” said onlooker Jonathan Hancock. “To be here in the fog and the rain and the cold and be thinking about the people out there and if they’re still alive. It’s pretty sobering for sure.”
Cranes moved equipment from transport trucks onto the Horizon Arctic in St. John’s Harbour on Tuesday night. This ship and two Canadian Coast Guard vessels have departed for the site of the Titanic wreckage, where the search is on for a missing submersible. (Ted Dillon/CBC)
Harold Janes was also watching — with a personal interest.
“I have a daughter operating the crane,” he said. “She was called down to go to work to put the equipment on the boat to try and rescue the people in the submarine.”
Janes said his daughter also put the Titan in the water last weekend, before it embarked on the expedition that’s become global news.
One of the pieces of equipment expected to have arrived in St. John’s on Tuesday is a flyaway deep ocean salvage system, belonging to the U.S. navy. A spokesperson from the navy described it as a “motion-compensated lift system designed to provide reliable deep ocean lifting capacity for the recovery of large, bulky and heavy undersea objects such as aircraft or small vessels.”
MONTREAL – One expert says entry-level pay under the tentative deal between Air Canada and its pilots could be a stumbling block ahead of a union vote on the agreement.
Under their current contract, pilots earn far less in their first four years at the company before enjoying a big wage increase starting in year five.
The Air Line Pilots Association had been pushing to scrap the so-called “fixed rate” provision entirely.
But according to a copy of the contract summary obtained by The Canadian Press, the proposed deal announced Sunday would merely cut the four-year period of lower pay to two years.
John Gradek, who teaches aviation management at McGill University, says as many as 2,000 of Air Canada’s roughly 5,200 active pilots may earn entry-level wages following a recent hiring surge.
After the airline averted a strike this week, Gradek says the failure to ditch the pay grade restrictions could prompt pushback from rank-and-file flight crew and jeopardize the deal, which is up for a vote next month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
ROME (AP) — Salvatore “Totò” Schillaci, the Italy striker who was top scorer at its home World Cup in 1990, has died. He was 59.
Schillaci had been hospitalized in Palermo following treatment for colon cancer.
The Palermo Civico hospital said in a statement that Schillacci died on Wednesday morning after being admitted 11 days ago.
Schillaci scored six goals for Italy during the 1990 World Cup. He came on as a substitute during Italy’s opener against Austria, scored in a 1-0 victory, and went on to earn the Golden Boot awarded to the tournament’s top scorer. He only scored one other goal for Italy in his career.
Italian soccer federation president Gabriele Gravina announced that a minute of silence would be held in memory of Schillaci before all games in the country for the rest of the week.
“The uncontrollable celebrations, in which his face was the symbol of shared joy, will remain forever part of Italian soccer (history),” Gravina said. “Totò was a great player, a symbol of tenacious desire and redemption. … His soccer was full of passion. And that fearless spirit made everyone appreciate him and will make him immortal.”
Schillaci also won the Golden Ball award at the 1990 World Cup as the tournament’s top player ahead of Lothar Matthaus and Diego Maradona.
Schillaci played for Messina, Juventus, Inter Milan and Japanese team Jubilo Iwata during his club career.
“You made an entire nation dream during the Magical Nights of Italia ’90,” Inter said on its social media channels.
West Germany won the 1990 World Cup, beating Argentina in the final, while Italy beat England for third place with a winning penalty kick from Schillaci.
Roberto Baggio, who scored Italy’s opening goal in the third-place match, wrote on Instagram, “Ciao my dear friend.”
Having been born and raised in Palermo, the Palermo soccer team announced that it would hold a public viewing of Schillaci at its Renzo Barbera stadium ahead of the funeral, the Gazzetta dello Sport reported.
French soccer player Wissam Ben Yedder will stay free ahead of his trial on charges of sexual assault while intoxicated, one of his lawyers told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Marie Roumiantseva said Ben Yedder will remain under strict judicial supervision after a woman filed a lawsuit for sexual assault earlier this month.
The 34-year-old Ben Yedder, a prolific striker in the French league, was briefly detained then released after the alleged incident in his car on the French Riviera. Ben Yedder had been stopped by police after he first refused to do so. He was then put in a jail cell.
After he was summoned to appear in court on Oct. 15 and placed under judicial supervision, the Nice prosecutor’s office appealed the decision not to remand the player in custody. The investigative chamber of the Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence did not grant this request and kept Ben Yedder under judicial supervision.
Ben Yedder attended a hearing Tuesday during which he offered to go to rehab. He has admitted he drove while under the influence of alcohol but has denied any sexual assault.
In a separate legal case last year, Ben Yedder was charged with “rape, attempted rape and sexual assault” over another alleged incident in the south of France.
Ben Yedder has been without a club since his contract with Monaco expired at the end of last season.
