The five people aboard the Titanic wreck explorer craft have just hours left to be rescued. The search for the Titan submersible, which was on route to the Titanic wreck six days ago, has entered its fourth day. International search and rescue operations are in full swing, sweeping huge areas of the North Atlantic in search of the craft. But rescue teams are working against the clock, and there are fears the five-man crew are running out of oxygen, with just a few hours left. Officials still held hope of rescue, with US Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick saying in a press conference on Wednesday evening: "We'll continue to put every available asset that we have in an effort to find the Titan and the crew members." Optimism came after repeated banging noises were detected underwater. Three separate aircraft heard the noises, which went on for at least two days. Other search craft have been diverted to the area where the underwater sounds originated. "I can't tell you what the noises are. What I can tell you is we're searching where the noises are, and that's all we can do at this point," Frederick said. Rescue operations relying on robots if vessel found But even those who expressed optimism warned that many obstacles remain. The vessel's location still isn't known, but if it was pinpointed in the next hour, rescue teams would have to reach it with rescue equipment and bring it to the surface, assuming it is still intact. If the submersible has sunk down to the bottom of the ocean, about 3,800 meters (12,500 feet) in the region, rescue operations would be especially challenging. Only specialized crafts are capable of operating at deep-sea depths due to the huge amounts of pressure. Even deep-sea Navy rescue submarines would struggle with the depth, having a maximum range of 2,250 to 3,000 meters. It's likely rescue teams would rely on unmanned robots to rescue the craft if found. Among those sending rescue craft to the region, the French government delivered its Victor 6000, a robot capable of diving 6000 meters to the area. The robot is equipped with a mechanical arm that could help drag the Titan back to the surface. The US Navy is also sending Fadoss — a heavy lifting system designed to recover heavy sunken objects. The Titan submersible weighs 10,432 kg. Experts warn even if the submersible is located, it would be a major challenge to retrieve it given the deep sea conditions of pressure and cold. Such a rescue operation would take hours, with the Fadoss system for example taking 24 hours to weld and support a vessel before bringing it to the surface. Oxygen is running out Meanwhile, the oxygen supply in the submersible is about to run out, with the US Coast Guard estimating some time between 11:00 and 13:00 (CET) to be when "breathable air" will run out.  The actual oxygen supply in the vessel depends on a range of factors, such as if power systems still remain, the breathing rate of those on board, and whether they remain calm. It's possible the crew might be trying to conserve oxygen in attempts to prolong the rescue window. The crew could be trying to sleep or meditate to slow down metabolism and decrease the need for oxygen. But this will depend on the psychological state of crew members inside. With oxygen in the Titan running out, the rescue window is rapidly closing. 

With medical experts predicting an upcoming third Covid wave, the Jammu and Kashmir government has set a target to enhance medical oxygen generation capacity to 90,000 litres per minute (LPM) in its hospitals. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at a recent meeting directed the officials to enhance medical oxygen generation capacity to 90,000 LPM from the current 66,000 LPM. Manoj Sinha in his Independence Day speech had said, “With the hard work and selfless determination of our doctors, health workers and other services, we have ensured that no one in Jammu and Kashmir faces the problem of oxygen beds. “In August last year, the oxygen generation capacity in all our hospitals was only  15,000 LPM, which has been increased to 66,000 LPM within 6 months and shall  be enhanced to 90,000 LPM in the coming days.” Jammu and Kashmir under the PM Care fund will receive 32 additional pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen generation plants, As per the officials. The capacity of these 32 plants would be 24,850 litres per minute (LPM). Out of these, 13 will be set up in Kashmir and as many in the Jammu division with a capacity of 13,550 LPM and 12,350 LPM respectively. The Jammu and Kashmir administration had approached the Union Health Ministry, for providing additional PSA plants to the union territory, considering the demand and need to make the oxygen generation facility available in all district hospitals and some major Community Health Centres (CHCs). According to an official statement from the administration, the Health and Medical Education Department has taken an initiative to augment the existing oxygen generation capacity in 37 major hospitals of the union territory by way of installation and commissioning of additional 84 medical oxygen generation plants. The Jammu and  Kashmir government has also directed all the private healthcare institutions having 50-bed capacities to establish oxygen generation plants within their facility for better patient care. During the second Covid wave this year, the government faced a number of problems in ensuring medical oxygen supply to Covid-19 patients as a result of which the number of oxygen generation plants was enhanced. In view of a third Covid19 wave, Sinha instructed the health and information departments to team up and start an extensive COVID 19 awareness campaign at the district level. The officials from the COVID Task Force, the Deputy Commissioner, and SSPs were present at the meeting.   

Indian Railways' Oxygen Express is set to embark on its journey to Bangladesh. This is the first time ever that the Oxygen Express is put into operation to neighbouring country. Today, an indent was placed at Tata in Chakradharpur Division under South Eastern Railway to transport 200 MT of Liquid Medical Oxygen to Benapole, Bangladesh. The loading of 200 MT of LMO in 10 containers rake has been completed at 09.25 hrs. It may be noted that Oxygen Expresses were started by Indian Railways on 24th April, 2021 to provide respite to Indian states requiring medical Oxygen. More than 35000 MT of LMO was transported to 15 states. Around 480 Oxygen Expresses were operationalised. Indian Railways endeavour to deliver as much LMO as possible in the shortest time possible. Source: Press release.

India has sent 11 tankers carrying around 180 Metric Tonnes of Liquefied Medical Oxygen to Bangladesh on an emergency basis on Wednesday. Given the criticality of these supplies of Liquid Oxygen to hospitals in Bangladesh, ICP Petrapole officials provided a Green Corridor for Medical Oxygen export, an Indian High Commission press release said in Dhaka yesterday. The oxygen was being imported by Linde, Spectra and Pure Oxygen, it added. Anit Jain, Assistant Commissioner of Customs at ICP Petrapole informed that despite being Eid-ul-Azha holiday a special team of Land Port officials, Custom officials, BSF and CNF agents was constituted and they were in regular contact with the High Commission of India in Dhaka and their Benapole counterparts. Port authorities on both the sides share excellent relations and have a long tradition of assisting each other. Government officials on both the sides of the border have demonstrated the spirit of brotherhood in supporting each other on the Eid-ul-Azha day, said the release. Source: BSS AH

India has been devastated by the second wave of Covid-19. The country is whacking with thousands of Covid deaths every day. Lack of Oxygen supply, lack of ICU, leaded the country to a fragile situation. Considering diplomatic relations, and expressing solidarity and support, many countries are coming forward for India. In accordance with, Indonesia has gifted 14,00 Oxygen concentrators to the country through the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS). In a statement given by Indonesian consulate general in Mumbai said,"As a form of support and solidarity towards India, who has shown great composure against COVID-19, the Government and the people of the Republic of Indonesia sent 1,400 units of oxygen cylinders through Indian Red Cross Society." Indonesian consul general Agus P Saptono received the oxygen concentrators at the port and handed them over to IRCS for further distribution. During the ceremony, Saptono said, this gesture will enhance the spirit of the two countries' togetherness in facing the pandemic and aims to help India get through a difficult time caused by the second wave. Meanwhile, IRCS' regional passport officer (Maharashtra), who represented the Indian Foreign Ministry, expressed appreciation and gratitude to Indonesia for the assistance, which, he said, would be very useful to handle the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Source: ANI B.M./Rtv

The 2019 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to scientists William G. Kaelin, Jr, Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza for their discoveries of "how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability," the Nobel Committee announced Monday. The discoveries made by the three men "have fundamental importance for physiology and have paved the way for promising new strategies to fight anemia, cancer and many other diseases," said the Karolinska Institute. The trio — Kaelin and Semenza are Americans, and Ratcliffe is British — will share equally the 9 million kronor ($918,000) cash award. It is the 110th prize in the category that has been awarded since 1901. Kaelin works at Harvard, Semenza at Johns Hopkins University and Ratcliffe is at the Francis Crick Institute in Britain. In announcing the prize, the Nobel Committee said the work by the three laureates has "greatly expanded our knowledge of how physiological response makes life possible." The Committee said that Semenza, Ratcliffe and Kaelin found "the molecular switch for how to adapt" when oxygen levels in the body vary, noting that the most fundamental job for cells is to convert oxygen to food and that cells and tissues constantly experience changes in oxygen availability. Thomas Perlmann, the secretary of the Nobel Committee at the Karolinska Institute, said he was able to call all three laureates Monday. But he reached Kaelin via his sister who gave him two phone numbers — the first one was a wrong number. "He was really happy," Perlmann told a news conference. The announcement kicked off Nobel week. The Nobel Physics prize is handed out Tuesday and the following day is the chemistry prize. This year's double-header Literature Prizes — one each for 2018 and 2019 — will be awarded Thursday and the Peace Prize will be announced on Friday. The economics prize will be awarded on Oct. 14. The 2018 literature prize was suspended after a scandal rocked the Swedish Academy. The body plans to award it this year, along with announcing the 2019 laureate. Prize founder Alfred Nobel — a Swedish industrialist and the inventor of dynamite — decided the physics, chemistry, medicine and literature prizes should be awarded in Stockholm, and the peace prize in Oslo. He specifically designated the institutions responsible for the prizes: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry; the Karolinska Institute is responsible for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; the Swedish Academy picks the Nobel Prize in Literature; and a committee of five people elected by the Norwegian Parliament decides who wins the Nobel Peace Prize. The economics prize — officially known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel — wasn't created by Nobel, but by Riksbanken, Sweden's central bank, in 1968. It is the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences that was tasked with selecting the winner. Nobel glory this year comes with a 9-million kronor ($918,000) cash award, a gold medal and a diploma. The laureates receive them at elegant ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo on Dec. 10 — the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896. Source: AP/UNB AH

The physical condition of Jatiya Party (JP) Chairman and opposition leader in the parliament Hussain Muhammad Ershad is stable. He is being given oxygen support. The information was delivered by party’s acting chairman and Ershad’s brother GM Kader after holding a press conference on behalf of the party at the party’s Banani office on Sunday evening. GM Kader said, we are satisfied over the treatment but the situation has not turned into that stage to send him abroad. Earlier the former army ruler was kept at the Critical Care Unit (CCU) of Combined Military Hospital (CMH). He was admitted in the hospital on Wednesday. Party sources said that Ershad’s condition deteriorated suddenly from Sunday afternoon. The over 90 years old former president is suffering from different complexities. He obtained treatment from abroad before December 30 election last year. After that Ershad elected his younger brother GM Kader as his successor in the party.   Mentionable, army chief Ershad took the state power by imposing martial law on March 24, 1982. Like Ziaur Rahman he also formed his political party ‘Jatiya Party’ while remaining in power. He was forced to leave power due to mass upsurge on December 6, 1990. AH