'Banging' heard in search for missing submersible near Titanic wreck site

'Banging' noises have been detected in the search for the missing submersible near the wreck of the Titanic.

The deep-sea vessel lost communication with tour operators on Sunday while about 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland, during a voyage to the shipwreck off the coast of Canada. Titan has five people on board who now face a dwindling supply of oxygen, with the US Coast Guard estimating on Tuesday that the 6.7 metres (22ft) long OceanGate Expeditions vessel had just 40 hours left.

British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding is on board, as well as Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman and OceanGate’s chief executive and founder Stockton Rush, reportedly together with French submersible pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet. The US Coast Guard on Wednesday morning said: "Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater noises in the search area.

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"As a result, ROV (remote operating vehicles) operations were relocated in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises. Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue.

“Additionally, the data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our U.S. Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans."

Meanwhile, US media outlet The Rolling Stone reported an internal US government memo said 'banging' was detected by Canadian search aircraft in 30-minute intervals on Wednesday. The Explorers’ Club, of which Mr Harding is a founding member, shared an upbeat message today.

President Richard Garriot de Cayeux said in a statement: "There is cause for hope, that based on data from the field, we understand that likely signs of life have been detected at the site. They precisely