NewsNation aired an “oxygen remaining” countdown clock alongside its coverage of the missing Titan submersible — and viewers weren’t happy about the “grim” choice.
The grave graphic appeared throughout the ratings-challenged news channel’s Wednesday coverage, including during the 10 p.m. show hosted by Ashley Banfield.
As the anchor discussed a theory that a sea creature could’ve attacked the sub during its descent to the shipwrecked Titanic, the countdown clock showed oxygen reserves ticked backwards from six hours.
The OceanGate Expeditions-run submersible, which is believed to have run out of oxygen as of Thursday morning, was carrying five passengers: Oceagate’s CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani tech mogul Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Sulaiman, and famed Titanic explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
Social media users were quick to slam NewsNation for airing the clock, calling it “totally insensitive,” and “disgusting and disrespectful.”
“Like this isn’t a countdown to new year’s eve… peoples lives are in danger?” another user tweeted.
Yet another wrote: “They counting down like it’s the Super Bowl man wtf.”
“Super tasteless!” another user exclaimed.
The news channel did not run countdown graphic during the rebroadcast of Chris Cuomo’s show at 11 p.m.
The Post reached out to NewsNation for comment.
OceanGate said the vessel disappeared less than two hours after it submerged Sunday afternoon.
Unlike a normal submarine, a submersible is unable to get to the bottom of the ocean and back without its mothership.
For Titan, that was Polar Prince, which it depended on for navigation to the Titanic wreck, which lies 12,500 feet below the surface.
The vehicle was equipped with 96 hours of oxygen when it departed on Sunday from a port in Newfoundland, Canada.
On Wednesday, a banging noise rang out every 30 minutes in the area where the vessel lost radio contact with its surface ship, though officials weren’t able to locate the sub before the oxygen timer ran out around 7:08 a.m. Thursday.
However, the rescue search on an area about 900 miles off the coast of Cape Cod is reportedly continuing, the Coast Guard crew said.
An expert said few craft can reach that depth and even if they could, it’s unlikely they could attach to the submersible and tow it up to the ocean’s surface.
Authorities are working to get a remotely operated craft that can plunge to depths of up to 20,000 feet to the site of the missing sub, according to an adviser to OceanGate, David Concannon.
The Coast Guard is leading the search-and-rescue mission from both the sky and ocean with the help of Canadian authorities.
Titan’s 12,500-foot depth far exceeds the deepest sub rescue in history, which occurred at a depth of just 1,575 feet below the Celtic Sea off the coast of Ireland in 1973.
Sunday’s trip was OceanGate’s third annual voyage to the site of the famous underwater shipwreck to report on Titanic’s deterioration since it sank in 1912 after striking an iceberg.
Extreme explorer Harding, who’s one of the five tourists who paid $250,000 to embark on the underwater journey to the Titanic, said on Instagram that the manned mission was likely the only one that would take place in 2023.