The US Navy, using data from a secret network of underwater sensors designed to track hostile submarines, detected “an anomaly consistent with an explosion or explosion” in the area. in the vicinity of the Titan submersible at the time of communication with the vessel was lost on Sunday, two senior Navy officials said on Thursday.
But with no other signs of a disaster, one of the officials said, the search has continued.
Data from the sensors was combined with information from a Navy P-8 airborne surveillance plane and surface sonar buoys to determine Titan’s approximate location, one of the officials said. The analysis of seafloor acoustic data and information on the location of the noise was then passed on to the Coast Guard official in charge of the search, Rear Admiral John Mauger.
Since there was no visual or other convincing evidence of the catastrophic failure, one of the officials said it would be “irresponsible” to immediately assume that the five passengers were dead and the The search was ordered to continue even though the outlook looked bleak. Both Navy officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the operation.
It is unclear how widespread the Navy audio analysis was among the search team, nor why the Navy did not make it public sooner. Analysis of the Navy’s acoustics from the secret network of sensors has been First reported by The Wall Street Journal.
