Rainy weather has made its way up the East Coast Sunday, bringing flooding and killing power in New Jersey after Tropical Storm Ophelia battered North Carolina.  

In the Tri-State area, people will face the brunt of lingering, miserable weather for much of Sunday as the post-tropical storm moves past. There is still a risk of coastal flooding and heavy, persistent rain – from DC to NYC on Sunday. 

Yesterday, the National Hurricane Center reported just after 6:20am, the storm had made landfall near Emerald Isle, North Carolina. The storm had maximum winds reaching 70mph, with sustained winds of 61mph.

A tropical storm warning was issued from Cape Fear, North Carolina, to Fenwick Island, Delaware. A hurricane watch was also in effect in North Carolina for the area north of Surf City to Ocracoke Inlet.

In New Jersey today, winds and the deluge have been causing disruption, and waves near the shore have been recorded as reaching up to 10 feet high. 

At the Cleveland Park Metro Station in Washington, DC, officials are anticipating flooding and have sandbagged the vicinity, as well as other flood-prone stations. 

New York City locals woke up to torrential rain and strong winds Sunday, with drizzly weather expected to continue into the beginning of the new week as the city reels from the final effects of Ophelia. 

Global Citizen Festival, held in Central Park, continued on despite the wet weather on Saturday evening – as festivalgoers in the Big Apple braved the torrent to watch big names like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Lauryn Hill.  

Hurricane Specialist at the National Hurricane Center Philippe Papin said on Sunday: ‘There have been tropical-storm-force winds observed, but those are starting to gradually subside as the system moves further inland.

‘However, there is a significant flooding rainfall threat for a large portion of eastern North Carolina into southern Virginia over the next 12 to 24 hours.’

NYC Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol said: ‘New Yorkers should take precautions regarding the forecast for high winds and rain during our first fall weekend.

‘This weekend’s weather is also a reminder that we are still in the middle of Atlantic Hurricane season and it is a great time to review your preparedness plan for your home or business, especially if you live in flood-prone areas.’ 

Footage showed the destruction caused in Greenville and Washington, North Carolina, Sunday morning after the storm brought heavy rain and major flooding.

Roads and streets were submerged, with cars unable to pass through the floodwater. 

Rescue teams with small boats made their way through the water to bring people trapped in cars and houses to safety.    

On Sunday morning, 2,600 people were without power in North Carolina, and 5,800 were blacked out in New Jersey.

During the intense deluge on Saturday, there were over 52,000 people in North Carolina and Virginia without power – but the majority have now been restored.  

The National Hurricane Center said in a morning update there will be a gradual weakening during the next 48 hours as the low center moves slowly offshore.

Water levels remain elevated within portions of Chesapeake Bay and its tidal rivers – but should gradually recede through today, experts said.

Throughout Sunday, portions of the Mid-Atlantic to southern New England will experience up to three inches of rainfall. 

According to the NHC: ‘This rainfall may produce localized flash, urban, and small stream flooding impacts across portions of the Mid-Atlantic region into southern New England. 

‘Isolated river flooding is possible in areas of heavier rainfall.

‘Swells generated by Ophelia will continue to affect much of the east coast of the United States through today. 

‘These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.’

On Saturday, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper issued his state’s emergency declaration, aiming to expedite preparations and help provide a swift response.

‘The storm’s path has been difficult to predict and we want to ensure that farmers, first responders and utility crews have the tools necessary to prepare for severe weather,’ the governor said. 

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order sought to ease response and recovery efforts.

‘We want to ensure that all communities, particularly those with the greatest anticipated impact, have the resources they need to respond and recover from the effects of this storm,’ Youngkin noted. 

Maryland Governor Wes Moore said in a statement on Friday evening that the state expected an extended period of strong winds, heavy rainfall and elevated tides.

In Annapolis, Maryland’s capital, water taxi driver Scott Bierman said service would be closed Saturday.

‘We don’t operate when it´s going to endanger passengers and or damage vessels,’ Bierman said.

In Washington, the Nationals baseball team postponed its Saturday game until Sunday.

It is not uncommon for one or two tropical storms, or even hurricanes, to form off the East Coast each year, National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said.

‘We’re right at the peak of hurricane season, we can basically have storms form anywhere across much of the Atlantic basin,’ Brennan said.

An Australian traveller has shared her ‘honest review of the Amalfi Coast’ and why the popular tourist destination is ‘not for the faint hearted’. 

Isabella Highfield and her partner, from Sydney, visited the picturesque must-see Italian town in early August but were left disappointed. 

While Isabella described the Amalfi Coast as ‘one of the most beautiful places she’s ever been to’, it was tainted by awful experiences. 

She claims catching jam-packed buses felt like a ‘death wish’, restaurants charged ‘too much’ for a bowl of pasta and she felt sick by the smell of body odour.

The experience left the couple wanting to flee and travel back home as soon as possible.

Isabella detailed her experience in a five-minute TikTok video that’s now been viewed more than 70,000 times.  

‘Let’s start with getting here. We are staying in a little town called Minori which is one across from Amalfi. Whichever town you stay in on the Amalfi Coast … you first have to get to Salerno which is the main train station,’ she said. 

It took the couple five hours to travel to Salerno on the train from Rome via Naples, which she said was a hassle in itself.

But the bus ride to their hotel was possibly the most terrifying experience of the whole trip. 

‘We had to catch the bus to Minori … it took over an hour. When I say I’ve never experienced anything in my life like this before, it’s not an understatement,’ she continued. 

‘I’m talking about a one-way street they somehow manage to fit three, four lanes of cars depending if there’s people parked on the side of the road. 

‘The buses drive at literally 100km/h whirling, whirl-ing around corners.’ 

She claims it seemed like two buses driving in opposite directions were only ‘millimetres’ away from each other. 

‘It’s wild, and they just honk their horns around the corners for safety. I honestly thought I was going to die,’ Isabella recalled. 

‘Not to mention the other motorists or motorcyclists that swerve in and out of these cars, or walk on the side of the road.’ 

This year in particular thousands of Australians have travelled to Europe for the ultimate summer holiday, but Isabella said the sheer number of people visiting Amalfi was ‘overwhelming’.     

‘Not to mention that I think people in general doesn’t know what deodorant is because the smell.. I mean it is hot..,’ she said. 

‘If you’re not gonna be sick from the buses, you are gonna be sick from the smell of people.’ 

Isabella also claims the ferries and buses ‘don’t arrive’ on time based on the schedule – so plan ahead. 

She added how the lines for the ferry are unorganised 

‘We had to catch a ferry from Amalfi to Positano … but there’s one line, and hundreds and hundreds of people all waiting in line for lots of different ferries, but one line,’ she said. 

‘So when your ferry comes and you’re right at the end of the line, you’ve just got to push your way through people that don’t want to get on that ferry. 

‘Like, why not just have six different lines? It’s honestly not that hard, there’s definitely room for it.’ 

The entire ordeal left Isabella ‘frustrated’ and feeling the need to ‘rant about it’. 

As a whole, likely because of the surge in popularity in recent years, Isabella found Amalfi to be an expensive place to visit. 

She dubbed the food as ‘average’ and ‘expensive’ compared to other parts of Italy. 

‘Some places are charging €36 ($60 AUD) for a plate of pasta. It’s f***ing flour and water!’ she added. 

After watching Isabella’s video opinions were divided and some agreed with her. 

‘My sister HATED IT! Said the bus trip to get there was the scariest thing ever,’ one commented.  

‘Agree overly priced,’ another said, a third added: ‘We were there last week and we had nearly the same experience.’ 

However others felt like Isabella was overreacting. 

‘Epic dramatisation,’ one wrote, another said: ‘The train from Rome to Salerno is one hour and an half. Logically the cheapest one is four hours.’

‘The problem is that lot’s of people try travelling without information of the place their visiting,’ a third said.  

Others recommended thoroughly researching a destination before travelling.

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The Royal Naval College is bathed in sunlight as we arrive in Dartmouth, the port from which Crusaders set sail in 1190, to reclaim the Holy Land.

My own mission is less elevated and certainly more enjoyable. As a feeble-footed walker with a scrambled sense of direction, I am to be passed, like a baton in a relay race, from friend to concerned friend on a four-day walk along a modest 30-mile section of the South West Coast Path. It will take me from Dartmouth to Hope Cove, sampling Devon’s fresh-and-local culinary scene along the way.

The path, all 630 miles, is the longest trail in England and celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Our chosen stretch is rich in motivation: the prospect of all that fish, crab and lobster, and the abundance of boutique dairies, wineries and distilleries garnering awards in this part of the world.

Sailing boats bob in the sparkling estuary, as Friend No 1 and I make for a waterfront watering hole, Embankment, to toast the start of our trip. This curious building was a railway station until 1972. It is, possibly, the only station in the world where you needed to cross a river to reach the train.

Our 14th Century lodgings, Bayards Cove Inn, offers an excellent dinner of smoked haddock fishcakes. Through these leaded windows 400 years ago, I might have watched the Pilgrims board the Mayflower at the cobbled quayside a few steps away.

Armed with an Ordnance Survey we set off next morning, first reaching 12th Century St Petrox Church, whose graveyard has views over the Dart Estuary.

It’s an easy walk along country lanes, flanked by drystone walls speckled with lichens. We descend to Blackpool Sands in time for lunch: cod and chips on a pristine Blue Flag beach. Families shelter behind stripy, 1950s-style wind-breaks – the scene is pure Beryl Cook.

Fortified, we continue through emerald velvet fields of unshorn sheep to Slapton Sands, where rehearsals took place for the D-Day Landings. The shingle is hard going but the sea air is invigorating.

At Torcross, a decision has to be made: do we take a short cut via the coast and risk being stranded by the tide or attempt the longer, forest route over the cliffs? No 1 advises caution and, by the time we reach The Cricket Inn at the fishing village of Beesands, parched, the only sensible antidote is a large Salcombe gin on the sea wall.

Dinner is a feast of fat whitebait, scallops and sea bream. I sleep well, the beam from distant Start Point lighthouse winking away.

The next morning, after breakfast (kippers), Friend No 2 and I make for the ghost village of Hallsands, which collapsed into the sea and is now inhabited by kittiwakes.

Rounding the point where seals bask on rocks, we persevere to East Prawle. This stretch to Gara Rock is dramatic and terrifying. The path narrows to 8 inches along cliffs carpeted in foxgloves, bluebells, vetch and acres of red campion.

No 2, it turns out, has got the short straw. She has to coax me over rocks as I try not to look down, fearing a plunge into those turquoise waters. To judge by memorial stones we pass, not everyone survived this rugged beauty.

I’m longing for concrete under foot. With huge relief we limp into Salcombe, that yachtie haven, and make for the Harbour Hotel. Never has a dinner of local cheese souffle and hake with crab herb crust, accompanied by a crisp Sharpham wine, been so well-deserved, – nor a bed seemed more inviting.

Thankfully, our schedule here is more a digestive than physical work-out, starting with the Salcombe Dairy chocolate factory, where Peruvian beans are hand-crafted into dark delights. Next door, I visit the Salcombe Distillery for a rum-making class, where we select spices and fruits to distil our own creation.

Then it is a short skip to Fish Quay for lunch at the wonderful, rough-and-ready Crab Shed.

It is when we are almost blown off a cliff near Bolt Head (tip: do not wear loose clothing) that Friend No 3 and I decide to cheat and taxi two miles to my last hotel, Soar Mill Cove. The afternoon is spent ambling down to the beach, where tired feet are cooled in crystal waters.

The final day dawns for our last leg: over grassy headlands to the fishing village of Hope Cove. We perch outside at the Lobster Pod for lunch of perfect simplicity: calamari, scallops and, of course, lobster – locally caught and fresh as can be. We clink celebratory glasses and agree: there’s nothing like good food as incentive for a healthy walk.

Facebook has found itself in hot water after wading into the debate over whether off-shore wind farms are responsible for a surge in whale deaths across the east coast.

Environmentalist Michael Shellenberger has accused the internet giant of ‘censoring accurate information’ after it slapped a content warning on a post about the beaching of 300 whales since 2017.

Officials admit there has been an ‘unusual mortality event’ on the east coast in the last six years with strandings reported from New York to North Carolina, but have insisted the string of new wind farms are not responsible.

The controversy blew up days after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was threatened with contempt of Congress amid claims the social media firm removed posts at the direction of the Biden White House.

‘Facebook is censoring accurate information about the relationship between industrial wind energy development and the increase in whale deaths off the East Coast,’ Shellenberger said.

‘Why is Facebook censoring accurate information and spreading disinformation?’

Construction is underway on two new wind farms off Rhode Island and Massachusetts after the White House pledged to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, enough to power 10 million homes.

Two are already operating off Rhode Island and Virginia Beach despite fury from conservationists and commercial fishing operators, and the $10billion Virginia development is expected to feature more than 175 wind turbines by 2026.

In January, the Clean Ocean Action environmental group asked President Joe Biden to step in and halt the wind farm projects, saying there was evidence it was related to the whale deaths.

‘We’ve gone too far, too fast,’ Clean Ocean Action executive director Cindy Zipf said.

‘Over 2.2 million acres is being allocated to offshore wind and 10,000 miles of cables.

‘This alarming number of deaths is unprecedented in the last half century, the only unique factor from previous years, is the excessive scope, scale, and magnitude of offshore wind powerplant activity in the region.’

The latest dead whale washed ashore on Takanassee Beach in New Jersey on Saturday, and this year is on course to be the worst on record for fatal strandings on the east coast.

Shellenberger has called the issue the ‘biggest environmental scandal in the world’ and delivered a series of angry posts to his thousands of Facebook followers this week.

‘The government says it’s not because of the wind industry’s high decibel pile driving and boat traffic in previously pristine waters,’ he wrote.

‘They’re lying. And now we have the proof.’

That triggered Facebook watchdogs to slap a warning, claiming the post was ‘missing context and could mislead people’.

It also linked to an article by Facebook partner Factcheck.org insisting there is no reason to believe wind farms are to blame.

‘Several factors, experts and officials have said, could be increasing the risk of these hazards,’ the checkers wrote.

‘For one, climate change is warming oceans and changing the distribution of prey that marine species depend on.

‘As a result, whales are altering their migration routes and moving out of protected areas and closer to the shores, where they are more vulnerable to ship strikes and entanglement with fishing gear.’

It pointed to autopsies carried out by the official National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration suggesting that 40 per cent of dead humpbacks were killed by hitting boats or getting tangled in ropes.

But they admit: ‘The causes for the other 60 per cent have been inconclusive, in part, officials say, because the carcasses decompose quickly, making it difficult to determine a cause of death.’

Facebook automatically moves reduces the visibility of posts flagged by its fact-checking partners, including AFP, reducing the visibility of false or misleading content.

But earlier this month its parent company Meta changed its settings allowing users to partially disable the fact-checking that they see.

‘We’re giving people on Facebook even more power to control the algorithm that ranks posts in their feed,’ a Meta spokesman told AFP.

We’re doing this in response to users telling us that they want a greater ability to decide what they see on our apps.’

‘For the last 20 years, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that his social media company is the “digital equivalent of a town square,” committed to factual accuracy, and protecting the natural environment,’ Shellenberger said.

‘Facebook knows its “fact checks” are just their “opinion”.

‘Thus, labeling FactCheck.org, which in this case is simply repeating US government misinformation, as a “fact-checker” is disinformation.’

Former head of US Coast Guard Commandant Karl L. Schultz ‘covered up investigation Fouled Anchor that revealed decades of sexual assaults at academy’

• CNN reports Commandant Karl K. Schultz covered up Operation Fouled Anchor 
• He stepped down in 2022 and was replaced by Linda Fagan 

By Jen Smith, Chief Reporter For Dailymail.Com

Published: 16:06 EDT, 8 August 2023 | Updated: 16:13 EDT, 8 August 2023

Holidaymakers have been urged to avoid contact with unwell or dead birds over fears they could be infected with bird flu.

The ongoing UK outbreak — caused by the H5N1 strain — has seen up to one million birds struck down by the virus, with experts fearing it is on the brink of taking off in humans.

The National Trust, which owns around 800 miles of Britain’s coastline, is urging visitors to the country’s beaches to be wary of bird flu.

Rhian Sula, a general manager for the charity in Pembrokeshire, said it had deployed staff to warn visitors about the risks.

While the virus doesn’t easily spread to humans, touching an infected bird or its droppings are known routes of transmission. 

UK health chiefs have long urged the public not to go near sick or dead birds.

Like other forms of flu, humans can get infected if the virus gets into their eyes, nose, mouth or is inhaled. 

But with bird flu, this usually occurs in people who spend a lot of time with infected creatures, such as bird handlers. 

Ms Sula told the BBC that while locals had awareness of the risks, ‘not all visitors do’.

‘As much as we have placed warning signs out, they may not see them or they may ignore them so we are having to have those conversations about why it is important to keep dogs on the lead and keep away from the birds,’ she added.

A National Trust spokesman confirmed to MailOnline that it is advising visitors ‘not to touch any sick or dead wild birds they come across and to report any sightings’ to the government website or call Defra.

James Parkin, director of nature and tourism for the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, told the broadcaster that local rangers have collected around 800 dead birds, most of which have been guillemots, razorbills and gannets.

Jeff Knott, director of policy and advocacy at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, told the BBC that there had been an ‘unprecedentedly large number’ of seabird deaths.

While tens of thousands of birds have washed up on Britain’s beaches, the true figure could be hundreds of thousands or millions, he said.

‘Obviously, seabirds spend most of their time out at sea – so the chances of them washing up on a beach are fairly low so we can’t know the actual number,’ he said.

‘This is a genuine crisis that could become a catastrophe,’ Mr Knott added. 

Globally, fewer than 900 human cases of H5N1, which kills close to 50 per cent of everyone it strikes, have ever been recorded.

But a spate of cases have been detected in the UK since the outbreak took off in October 2021.

Alan Gosling, a retired engineer in Devon who kept ducks at home, caught the virus in early 2022 after his ducks became infected. 

He later tested negative while he was quarantined for nearly three weeks. 

All 160 of Mr Gosling’s ducks — including 20 that lived inside his home — were culled after he tested positive

Two British poultry workers then tested positive for bird flu in May, making them only the second and third human cases ever recorded in Britain.

In an update earlier this month, the UKHSA reported that another two poultry workers tested positive.

The first suffered from a sore throat and muscle aches — though it is unclear whether these symptoms were caused by the virus. 

The individual had three household close contacts and all have remained asymptomatic. 

The second unidentified case and their three household contacts also developed no symptoms.

Around 50 other people who work over the two affected sites were tested for bird flu and all were negative, the UKHSA said.

No signs of human-to-human transmission have yet been detected in the UK.

Current advice from the UKHSA states the risk to public health from the virus is very low.

However, European health chiefs this month urged pet owners to keep their cats indoors and dogs on a lead while out walking. 

The warning was sparked after at least 29 cats in Poland tested positive for bird flu. 

Two cats at a shelter in Seoul, South Korea, tested positive for the virus, the government confirmed this week. 

The centre, which has logged 36 other cat deaths in recent weeks, has been put into lockdown. No human cases have been detected, officials said.

The bodies of the five Titanic sub crew may never be recovered from the ‘unforgiving’ ocean where they perished, the US Coast Guard announced grimly today after confirming that shattered pieces of the vessel have been found 500meters from the bow of the famous ship the men died trying to see. 

The nail-biting search for the Titan, a 21ft submersible operated by OceanGate Expeditions, drew to a devastating close today when a remote operated submarine from a Canadian ship found broken pieces of it on the ocean floor. 

Search and rescue efforts say they likely died on Sunday – before military planes using sonar buoys detected what they thought could have been SOS ‘banging’ sounds in the water. 

‘The implosion would have generated a significant, broadband sound that the sonar buoys would have picked up,’ explained Rear Admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard at a press conference today. 

It would have been an instant death for the men, some of whom had paid $250,000 each to see the famous shipwreck. 

In a gut-wrenching blow for the victims’ families, experts say there is little prospect of recovering any of their remains.  

‘This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there. The debris is consistent of a catastrophic implosion of the vessel.. we’ll continue to work and search the area down there – but I don’t have an answer for prospects at this time,’ Paul Hankin, a deep sea expert involved in the search, said. 

In addition to the landing frame and rear cover that were the first pieces of debris detected, the ROV submarine also found fragments of the pressure hull – the main body of the submersible. 

‘The debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber. Upon this determination we immediately notified the families. On behalf of the Coast Guard and the entire unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families,’ Rear Admiral Mauger said.

In its own statement, OceanGate said this afternoon: ‘We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost.

‘These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans. 

‘Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.’

The company added: ‘This is an extremely sad time for our dedicated employees who are exhausted and grieving deeply over this loss. 

‘The entire OceanGate family is deeply grateful for the countless men and women from multiple organizations of the international community who expedited wide-ranging resources and have worked so very hard on this mission. 

‘We appreciate their commitment to finding these five explorers, and their days and nights of tireless work in support of our crew and their families.

‘This is a very sad time for the entire explorer community, and for each of the family members of those lost at sea. 

‘We respectfully ask that the privacy of these families be respected during this most painful time.’ 

Earlier, David Mearns, who was friends with two of the men on board, said the ‘only saving grace’ for the men was how quickly their deaths would have occurred. 

‘The hull hasn’t yet been found but two very important parts of the whole system have been discovered and that would not be found unless its fragmented. That really indicates what is the worst case scenario which is a catastrophic failure, an implosion. 

‘The only saving grace is that it would have been immediate, literally in milliseconds and the men would have no idea what was happening… my worst fears have now been realized,’ he said. 

The world has been praying for a ‘miracle’ after rescuers estimated the vital oxygen supply would end at 7.08am EST (12.08pm UK time, 9.09pm Sydney) on Thursday.

Officials said the field had been found by Odysseus 6k, a remote operated vehicle (ROV) deployed by the Canadian vessel, the Horizon Arctic, that can dive 20,000ft underwater. 

A glimmer of hope came yesterday when the Coast Guard confirmed consistent ‘banging’ noises had been detected by P-3 aircraft, but the search teams were unable to find the source of the sound, or confirm that they were the SOS signals the world had hoped for. 

The families of the five men on board the sub are yet to publicly react to news of the debris discovery.

Experts have for days warned of the possibility that the Titan had sprung a leak and imploded under the pressure, which is 400 times that experienced at sea level. 

‘They would be dead before they knew anything had even happened,’ L. David Marquet, a retired Navy nuclear submarine commander, said earlier this week. 

If the debris does not belong to the Titan, the Coast Guard has vowed to continue its search. 

Earlier this morning, Rear Admiral John Mauger, who is coordinating the effort from Boston, said during an appearance on NBC’s Today show: ‘People’s will to live has to be accounted for.’ 

The submersible’s oxygen theoretically should have run out at 8am EST (1pm BST) Thursday, according to the 96 hours limit listed on OceanGate’s specs of the ship. 

The family of British billionaire, Hamish Harding, have spoken of their fury that it took OceanGate’s mothership, the Polar Prince, eight hours to report the sub missing on Sunday. 

The Titan submerged at 8am (1pm BST) and lost communications at 9.45am (2.45pm) but was not reported as missing to the US Coast Guard until 5.40pm (10.40pm). 

The sub was due to return to the Polar Prince ay 3pm EST (8pm BST) Sunday. 

Since Sunday night, there has been a frantic, international effort to find it and save the men on board.  

Those stuck onboard the sub included British billionaire Hamish Harding, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, French navy veteran PH Nargeolet and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, who was just 19 and a student at Strathclyde University in Scotland. 

 The Titan craft, run by OceanGate Explorations, submerged on Sunday at 1pm UK time (8am EST and 10pm in Sydney) around 400 miles southeast of St John’s, Newfoundland.

At 2.45pm it lost contact with its mothership, the Polar Prince. But it wasn’t reported missing to the US Coast Guard until 10.40pm.

Kathleen Cosnett, a cousin of UK businessman Hamish Harding, 58, who was on the sub, said the eight-hour delay before contacting the authorities was ‘far too long’.

She told the Telegraph: ‘It’s very frightening. It took so long for them to get going to rescue them, it’s far too long. I would have thought three hours would be the bare minimum.’  

Titan lost communication on Sunday while about 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland, during a voyage to the Titanic off the coast of Canada. The last ‘ping’ of its homing device was heard on Sunday afternoon – directly above the world’s most famous wreck.

A Canadian Navy ship carrying medics specializing in treating health issues relating to deep-sea diving arrived on the scene this morning on the HMCS Glace Bay, according to officials. 

They also brought a  hyperbaric chamber – which can be used for decompressing divers after they return to the surface. 

Above the wreck is a flotilla of at least ten ships, two robot subs and several aircraft scanning the Atlantic for any sign of Titan as sonar continues to hear a banging noise from the depths.  

Speaking today to Sky News, Rear Admiral John Mauger confirmed the initial reports suggesting the noise heard by sonar buoys was ‘background ocean noise’.

‘We’ve taken that information and shared it with top leading experts from the US Navy and the Canadian Navy, and they’re working on the analysis of that information, they’re continuing to work on the analysis of that information,’ he said. 

‘The initial reports is that there’s a lot of the sounds that were generated were from background ocean noise, but they continue to … look for all available information there.

‘What’s important to me, and what’s important as the unified command, is that we’ve continued search in the areas where noise was detected with the ROVs that we have from the time of that detection, so we’re not waiting for this analysis to take action.

‘The analysis is really helpful to our overall search-and-rescue efforts, but we’re not waiting on it, we’ve moved the remote operated vehicles that we’ve had on site to those areas where noise was detected.’

Shipping experts Marine Traffic have shared an animation of the ships rushing to the search zone. Titan’s mothership Polar Prince has been searching the area since Sunday and is zig-zagging the site in the hope that it will appear on the surface or get back in contact after communications cut out more than 72 hours ago. 

A Royal Navy submariner, as well as equipment from a British company, has been sent to assist in the search for Titan. Number 10 said Lieutenant Commander Richard Kantharia had been ’embedded… to assist the search and rescue effort’.

Rob Larter, a marine expert at the British Antarctic Survey, told a press conference on Thursday that he thought the Victor 6000 was the ‘main hope’ for an underwater rescue.

Alistair Greig, a professor of marine engineering at University College London, said the robot’s two manipulator arms could potentially allow it to untangle the Titan, or attach a device that could float it to the surface.

The Victor 6000 also has strong lights, allowing it to see through some of the murk at such depths.

But the experts warned that the rescuers would need to know fairly precisely where to look for Titan, which currently does not seem to be the case.

Finding the submersible ‘could potentially take weeks of intense survey,’ Larter warned.

And even if search teams do find the submersible, a rescue operation could take up precious time.

In a normal situation, it would take two hours for a ROV like the Victor 6000 to get down to the necessary depth – and another two hours to float back up, Greig said.

The missing submersible is also reportedly bolted from the outside, which could take up more time, he added.

Larter said it was a ‘desperate situation’.

‘It’s kind of unimaginable if people are alive, trapped in a submersible with oxygen supplies running down.

‘An objective assessment of where things are at the moment: it doesn’t look good,’ Larter said, adding that it was important to stay optimistic.

The Coastguard has admitted it does not know if it is the five men hammering on the side of their sub or simply the sound of the sea including perhaps debris falling from the Titanic itself at 12,500ft below the surface. 

But even if it is discovered it will take many hours to save Titan – meaning that the oxygen could run out before they get to the surface. Rescue efforts to find them have continued overnight – and are becoming ever more desperate.

Oceanographer and water search expert Dr David Gallo said today: ‘It’s going to be almost impossible. We need a miracle — but miracles do happen’. 

But former Royal Navy Officer, Chris Parry, said as Midday approached: ‘I’m afraid time’s up – I don’t think there’s any prospect of getting those people out alive now’.

It is a bleak picture for those trapped inside the stranded vessel, but officials have continued to insist that the hunt is ‘100 per cent’ still a search and rescue mission. 

Rescuers searching for the missing Titanic explorers had been racing against the clock as they struggled to find the source of underwater ‘banging noises’ detected earlier this week. 

Canadian aircraft picked up the sounds by sonar – some of which were said to be heard at regular 30-minute intervals – as recently as yesterday afternoon, close to where the Titan submersible disappeared.

But the Coast Guard admitted last night that extensive searches around the area 435 miles off Newfoundland had so far ‘yielded negative results’.

Rescuers were insistent that they would continue to look for the men even after the 96 hour oxygen window expired. 

Response co-ordinator Captain Jamie Frederick for First Coast Guard District said: ‘This is a search and rescue mission, 100 per cent.’

The US Coast Guard has given the bleak warning that it may not be able to rescue the missing Titanic tourist sub – even if it is able to find it. 

The Titan submersible has been missing since 9.45am on Sunday morning after being launched into the Atlantic at 8am. 

OceanGate Expeditions – the company which runs the tours and is responsible for the sub – did not notify the Coast Guard until 5.40pm.  

There are five people onboard, including three wealthy tourists, and the sub’s oxygen supply is now just 40 hours, giving rescue crews until Thursday morning to find it before it runs out. 

But even if they locate the missing vessel in time, there is no certainty that it can safely be brought to surface.

At a press conference at the US Coast Guard Station in Boston – which is coordinating the search and rescue effort – First District Response Coordinator Capt. Jamie Frederick conceded on Tuesday that rescue was not guaranteed. 

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‘Even with that amount of time left, if you were to find the submersible at this moment, would that give you enough time to save those five people on board?’ he was asked. 

‘I don’t know the answer to that question… all I know is we will do everything within our power to effect a rescue,’ Frederick replied.

The Coast Guard has already searched 7,600 square miles of ocean – a search area the size of Connecticut. 

At 12,500ft underwater, there are few vessels able to dive deeply enough to find it. 

The only ones able to search the ocean floor are remotely operated vehicles which are searching the ocean now.

If they find the sub, getting it to the surface is another feat entirely, requiring specialist equipment that is not yet on-site. 

Other experts likened it to requiring a 2.5mile long cable to lasso to the far side of the moon. 

There are multiple civilian ships assisting in the search, along with US Navy, Canadian Navy ships and aircraft. 

Among pieces of equipment now on the way to the site is a decompression chamber for the five passengers, should they be brought to the surface. 

‘Getting salvage equipment on-scene is a top priority,’ Frederick said. 

The logistical challenge is immense; the Titanic wreck is situated some 400 miles southeast of St Johns, Newfoundland – around 900 miles east of Cape Cod. 

A Canadian Coast Guard cutter is expected to arrive at the search area this evening. 

It takes several days for Coast Guard ships to reach the site from the US. 

In addition to the underwater remote operated vehicles and Coast Guard ships, several aircraft are surveying the water for any signs of the sub on the surface. 

‘We don’t want to exhaust one possibility in place of another. We don’t want to rule out that it is on the surface. 

‘If it is on the surface we are fairly certain we will be able to find it,’ U.S. Coast Guard First District Captain Robert Simpson added.

DailyMail.com previously revealed it took OceanGate eight hours to report the submersible as missing. 

The company has not yet explained why it took so long to raise the alarm. 

By Mark Duell

Published: 03:13 EDT, 20 June 2023 | Updated: 15:23 EDT, 20 June 2023

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A deadly bacteria that kills up to 50 percent of people it infects has now been listed as an endemic along the US gulf coast.

Dr Julia Petras, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who made the warning, said Burkholderia pseudomallei was now likely lurking in soil and stagnant water across the 1,600 miles from Texas to Florida.

People infected with the bacteria suffer melioidosis, a severe condition that can trigger pneumonia and sepsis and can be fatal.

Doctors are now on alert for the disease, which can initially be misdiagnosed as another infection. 

The CDC declaration comes less than a year after it was detected in the US for the first time in soil from the Mississippi coast.

 Dr Petras said: ‘It’s estimated that there’s probably 160,000 cases a year around the world and 80,000 deaths.

‘This is one of those diseases that is also called the great mimicker because it can look like a lot of different things.

‘It’s greatly under-reported and under-diagnosed and under-recognized — we often like to say that it’s been the neglected tropical disease.’

The bacteria — also known as B. psuedomallei — is native to tropical areas in South East Asia and northern Australia.

But the CDC is now warning it has been identified in the Gulf states: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

In these areas, the agency warns it may be lurking in topsoil or muddy fresh- or brackish water.

People can become infected after coming into contact with the water or soil — including through open wounds — or ingesting it.

It is unclear how the pathogen arrived in the United States, although this may have traveled by infected travelers. 

The deadly bacteria has been present in Puerto Rico since 1982, according to an Oxford University-backed study.

About 12 Americans are struck down by the bacteria every year, estimates suggest, although they are normally linked to foreign travel.

This is thought to be a major underestimate because many cases are misdiagnosed as other conditions.

Four cases were recorded in the US — including two deaths — in 2021, with cases later linked to a contaminated aromatherapy spray imported from India.

Another two were detected in 2020 and 2022 in unrelated individuals who lived near each other in Mississippi.

This prompted the CDC to take soil and water samples from within and around the patients’ homes, revealing the presence of the bacteria B. pseudomallei. Both patients recovered from the infection.

Dr Petras, who is an epidemic intelligence service officer, said: ‘It is an environmental organism that lives naturally in the soil, and typically freshwater, in certain areas around the world — mostly subtropical and tropical climates.

‘A lot of patients will have pneumonia with sepsis, and or sepsis, which is associated with higher mortality and worse outcomes.’

She added: ‘We have antibiotics that work. 

‘What I’m talking about is IV antibiotics for at least two weeks, followed by three to six months of oral antibiotics.

‘It’s an extensive treatment, but if you’ve finished the full course and you’re diagnosed early, which is the really key thing, your outcome is probably going to be quite good.’

Humans can become infected with the bacteria via contact with contaminated soil and muddy water, particularly if they have an open wound.

In rare cases, it can also be transmitted between humans — although this has only been reported via sexual contact and during pregnancy.

In most cases, the bacteria do not trigger symptoms because the immune system can to fight it off.

But when an infection begins, patients may suffer from symptoms including joint pain, fever and headaches in the early stages.

This can then progress to melioidosis, with the CDC warning that between 10 and 50 percent of cases are fatal.

Individuals who live along the gulf coast and have conditions such as diabetes, kidney disease and chronic lung disease are particularly at risk.