An advisor involved in the search for a submersible that went missing while looking at the Titanic told NewsNation on Monday that some U.S. government officials are seemingly ignoring his calls.
Search-and-rescue teams are racing against time to find a submersible that went missing Sunday with five people during an OceanGate Expeditions tourist dive to the wreck of The Titanic. The vessel disappeared roughly an hour and forty-five minutes into its dive to the ocean floor, carrying explorer Hamish Harding, two members of an iconic Pakistani business family, a pilot, and a Titanic expert, The Associated Press reported.
OceanGate advisor David Concannon told NewsNation host Ashley Banfield that he was supposed to be part of the crew, but an emergency kept him on shore, according to a video shared Monday night. When pushed about the overall recovery effort, Concannon said he’s working predominantly with private sector businesses, as many of his calls to the U.S. government are being left with out-of-office replies.
“This [potential rescue] equipment has been on the tarmac for hours. And when I communicate with the United States government, I get out of office replies, not from everyone, but from key people that have a sign off on this. That is unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable,” Concannon said during the interview. (RELATED: 5 Missing Including Famed Explorer As Authorities Race To Find Missing Titanic Submersible)
“Those assets could be out there tomorrow. Look, we have worked with the government, but we have worked independently to get the assets on site. It is essential. I don’t want to see an out of office reply. I want to see a ‘yes, how can we help you?’ And we are trying as hard as we can. And I sent your producers photographs of those assets under the lights at night in Guernsey ready to be shipped and those were taken hours ago,” he continued.
Banfield appeared shocked that paperwork seemed to be the only thing stopping the deployment of a full rescue. Those aboard have a 96-hour window of oxygen available as of Monday.
This is OceanGate’s third annual voyage to view the wreckage of the Titanic, which sits around 3.8 kilometers below the surface of the ocean, AP noted in another article.
You can watch his full interview here: