The Explorers Club reveal ‘signs of life’ detected near where OceanGate Titanic sub went missing

“Signs of life” have been detected in the area near where a submarine — visiting the wreck of the Titanic — has been missing since Monday, according to a private American exploration group.

Explorers Club President Richard Garriot said, “There is cause for hope” in the search and rescue mission of one of their members, British billionaire Hamish Harding, who is among those missing.

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

“Our hearts are with family and friends of fellow Explorers Club members Hamish Harding, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and the rest of the submersible crew as we await hopefully good news.

It comes as “banging” had been reported in 30-minute intervals near where the vessel disappeared in the North Atlantic Ocean as authorities ramped up their search in a race against time.

The US Coast Guard warned on Tuesday that the passengers inside the submersible had “about 40 hours of breathable air left”.

US Coast Guard captain Jamie Frederick said: “Our crews are working around the clock to ensure that we’re doing everything possible to locate the Titan and the five crew members.”

“But this is a complex search. It’s complex for a variety of reasons.

“You’re talking about a search area that’s 900 miles [1448 km] east of Cape Cod [Massachusetts] and 400 miles [643 km] south of St John’s [in Newfoundland, Canada] — so logistically speaking, it’s hard to bring assets to bear. It takes time, and it takes coordination.”

It also emerged that OceanGate — the operator of the wreckage tour — was previously the target of safety complaints from a former employee who alleged he was sacked over concerns he raised.

Former marine operations director David Lochridge had refused to greenlight manned tests on the early models of the submersible after identifying “numerous issues that posed serious safety concerns”.