Time running out for Titanic sub as search focuses on undersea sounds

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  • Clock ticks down on submersible's presumed air supply
  • Titanic wreck lies in icy depths on Atlantic seabed
  • Rescue teams from U.S., Canada, France join search
  • 'Miracle' if passengers come out alive, says friend

June 21 (Reuters) - Rescuers searching for a missing submersible near the wreck of the Titanic focused on Wednesday on a remote patch of the North Atlantic where undersea noises were detected, although officials cautioned the sounds may not have originated from the vessel.

With the submersible's air supply expected to run out in a matter of hours, an international search operation was sweeping a vast expanse of ocean for the Titan, which vanished on Sunday while carrying five people on a deep-sea tourist voyage to the world-famous, century-old shipwreck.

The U.S. Coast Guard said remotely operated vehicles (ROV) were deployed underwater near where Canadian aircraft recorded the noises using sonar buoys on Tuesday and Wednesday but have not found any sign of the Titan yet.

Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick said at a press conference that analysis of the noises has been "inconclusive."

"When you're in the middle of a search-and-rescue case, you always have hope," he said. "With respect to the noises specifically, we don't know what they are." Officials did not offer a description of the sounds.

In one highly anticipated addition to the search, the French research ship Atalante was en route late on Wednesday to deploy a robotic diving craft capable of descending to a depth well below that of even the Titanic wreck, the Coast Guard said.