Missing Tour Sub: Rescue Craft Hears Banging

Hope on the possibility of finding alive tourists aboard the ill-fated Titan rose on Tuesday as one of the Canadian rescue planes picked up signs of life somewhere along the search route.

Coast Guard disclosed that the plane, Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft with underwater detection capabilities, heard ‘noises’, including banging sound, every half hour, near the disappearance site.

The disclosure is contained in email exchange with the US Department of Homeland.

Reports say rescue operators heard underwater noises, compelling operations to be relocated to determine the origin of the sound.

“It reported a contact in a positon close to the distress position.

The P8 heard banging sounds in the area every 30 minutes. Four hours later, additional sonar deployed and banging was still heard,” the memo read in part.

The finding was also confirmed by president of the Explorers Club, Richard Garriot de Cayeux, in a statement .

“We have much greater confidence that one, there is cause for hope, based on data from the field-we understand that likely signs of life have been detected at the site,” Cayeux said in his statement.

But subsequent attempt to confirm the banging sound proved abortive on Wednesday, following the inability of the drone redirected to the area to hear any repeat noise.

Meanwhile, rescue team will further analyze available data to help plan subsequent search, deep in the Atlantic ocean to possibly locate the sub which launched on Sunday but quickly lost contact with the surface soon after.

The Titan dived on Sunday with five people on board. They are British billionaire adventurer, Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, his 19 year-old son, Suleman, OceanGate founder, Stockton Rush and Sub Pilot, Paul-Henry Nareolet.