Canada was 'highly confident' it heard man-made noises during search for Titan submersible, documents show

Canada's military was «highly confident» for days in June 2023 that bangs heard underwater while searching for the missing Titan submersible were man made — by an object striking the hull of a vessel — near the famous Titanic wreck site, CBC News has learned.

Those noises helped keep hope going that the five wealthy explorers on board the missing vessel were still alive during the multi-day, multi-national search, even though it is now believed the vessel imploded within hours of going into the water.

Now internal government documents obtained by CBC News through the Access to Information Act reveal more details about what Canada's search team privately documented during the search, including that a military patrol plane first heard the banging on June 19, the day after the Titan went missing.

The Royal Canadian Air Force's CP-140 Aurora heard multiple «bangs that they are highly confident are manmade by an object striking a hull,» read multiple daily internal notices written by the Canadian Coast Guard between June 19 and June 22.

«They believe the sound originated from near [Titanic's] wreck site at a depth of approximately 10,000 feet.»

That «sensitive information» was included in more than a dozen internal emails and updates to officials at Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) that CBC News obtained, and all the way up to Jody Thomas, the prime minister's national security adviser at the time.

U.S. officials confirmed on June 21 the sounds had been heard and it sent its remotely operated vehicle to search that area.

The search was called off on June 22 when debris from the Titan was found, the same day the Wall Street Journal first reported the U.S. navy's top-secret system used to track enemy submarines had detected what