A robot that can dive up to 6,000 meters underwater is trying to find a submarine that went missing while descending on the wreck site of the Titanic, France’s Research Institute for Exploitation of the Seas said. is stuck.

The unmanned robot, called the Vector 6000, can dive deeper than any other equipment currently in the North Atlantic Ocean, the company said. He said the robot has remote-controlled arms to cut cables or perform other maneuvers to help free a trapped submarine.

The robot aboard the French research vessel is expected to arrive late Wednesday, giving limited time to provide help before a Thursday morning deadline when the missing submarine’s air supply is expected to run out.

“Victor couldn’t lift the submarine by himself,” said Olivier Lefort, head of naval operations at the French state-run research institute for ocean exploitation, which operates the robot.

But Levore told Reuters the robot would be called Titan and would help dock a ten-ton submarine with a vessel capable of lifting it to the surface.

The Titanic went missing with five people on board shortly after Sunday’s descent into the wreckage of the British liner Titanic, which hit an iceberg in 1912 and sank. The wreck is located at a depth of about 3,810 meters.

“Victor can use all the video equipment he has to do visual inspection,” Levore said. “It is also equipped with manipulative weapons that can be used to extract the submarine, such as cutting cables or things that block it at the bottom. .”

The French Research Institute for the Exploration of the Sea was part of the team that discovered the wreck of the Titanic in 1985, along with American underwater archaeologist Robert Ballard.

The robot operates a crew of 25 people. “We can work nonstop for up to 72 hours, and we don’t need to stop at night,” Lever said.

The U.S. Coast Guard said Canadian aircraft equipped to detect submarines detected noise in the area. US media reported that the sounds included knocking at 30-minute intervals.

“We don’t know what happened, which gives us hope that the submarine is under the sea and that the people are still alive, but other possibilities are possible… Even if the hope is slim, we will go all the way,” Lever said.