Long island is part of an urgent search and rescue operation that has captivated the nation. Crews from the Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing in Westhampton Beach has joined the search for a missing submersible carrying five people.

The Ocean Gate Expedition sub was taking passengers on a tour to see the Titanic wreckage at the bottom of the ocean. It went missing Sunday night off the coast of Newfoundland.

Search crews from the 106th Rescue Wing spent 11 hours in the air. They got off the ground around 3:30 p.m. Monday and arrived at the search area by 6:30 p.m. They were up against poor weather conditions that reduced their visibility to less than a mile, even with night vision goggles.

“We didn't have a lot of illumination. It was very, very difficult last night to conduct the search,” said Capt. Chris Colwell, aircraft commander on the HC-130 of the 106th Rescue Wing. “We did it to the best of our ability and we stayed there for about three and a half hours. At that point, we were running low on gas so we had to return back home.”

The Ocean Gate Expedition vessel began its descent to explore the Titanic’s wreckage deep beneath the ocean’s surface on Sunday. Less than two hours into the tour, they lost communication and vanished. Five passengers are trapped inside.

By Tuesday afternoon, U.S. Coast Guard Officials estimated that the passengers had about 40 hours of oxygen left. With no GPS underwater, time is running out for rescue crews.

“I can say from my experience, it’s the first time I've been requested to look for a submarine so for us, that is definitely a challenge because, even if it does surface, a small amount will be visible above the surface itself,” said Major Patrick Harding of the 106th Rescue Wing, who helped coordinate deployment of the aircraft. “That's going to add to the challenge because even on a great day with someone in bright colors waving at you, it can be difficult to even see it from an aircraft.”

A second crew from the 106th Rescue Wing took off around 1:00 p.m. Tuesday. They needed to be back home by midnight to avoid running out of gas.