Tourist submarine disappears after exploring the remains of the Titanic

On June 18, Titan, a submersible used to explore the wreckage of the Titanic, disappeared in the area of ​​the wreck in the North Atlantic, triggering a search and rescue operation by the US and Canadian Coast Guard.

According to OceanGate, Inc., the company that markets trips to the bottom of the ocean from Newfoundland, Canada, with a value of $250,000 per person, Titan only has 96 hours of oxygen autonomy for the five people on board. , a term that would come to an end on June 22.

Who travels aboard Titan?

Since June 18, after starting the descent of 3.8 kilometers, nothing is known about the submersible with five people on board. According to international press reports, they are Hamish Harding, a British billionaire and space tourist, Shahzada Dawood, a British businessman from one of the richest families in Pakistan, his son, Sulemane, as well as Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate, and , finally, Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a 73-year-old French explorer.

Where could it be?

An hour and 45 minutes had passed since the dive when the Coast Guard lost contact with Titan. The rescue operation continued overnight, but so far there is no sign of the small submersible and search teams are using “all available resources” to find it.

According to several experts, it is possible that the Titan was trapped in the rubble or in fishing nets or other objects that may have gotten caught in the mythical ship sunk in 1912.

It is worth mentioning that Titan is controlled with a joystick It costs 30 dollars and moves with several propellers that if they get stuck or stranded can prevent it from moving or can get out of a difficult point on its own.

In an interview for the BBC, the expert professor in submersibles Alistair Greig, of the University College of London, analyzed, with the British chain, the theories of what could have happened to the ship.

There are positive expectations of finding the whereabouts of the vessel if “there was a power or communication failure, this could have happened and the submersible would be floating on the surface waiting to be found.”

However, in the event that there has been a leak due to some type of incident regarding the hull of the submarine, it is unlikely that they can be found alive.

While the submersible might still be intact, if it’s deeper than 200 meters, there are very few boats that can go that deep, and certainly not divers. The Navy’s designed submarine rescue vehicles certainly can’t get anywhere near the depth of the Titanic, and even if they could, I highly doubt they could attach themselves to the hatch of the tourist submersible.

Rescue efforts intensify

On the other hand, through a statement to the AP news agency, David Concannon, OceanGate consultant, reported that as soon as possible a remote-controlled underwater device will be sent after the missing Titan, which will be connected to the controller by a cable that allows bidirectional data flow.

Meanwhile, during the early hours of June 20, through its Twitter account, the United States Coast Guard reported that rescue efforts are focused on an area located approximately 1.45 kilometers from Cape Cod in Massachusetts, where presumes it could be found.

Some of its most advanced aircraft are being used in the operation, including a Lockheed C-130 Hercules military transport plane from the United States and a Boeing P-8 Poseidon plane from Canada, capable of detecting underwater objects.

Deep-sea exploration began over 150 years ago but the ocean remains vastly unexplored. Our mission is to explore more and to share the experience of discovery with citizen explorers worldwide – starting with the #Titanic. #OceanExplorationDay

Learn more: https://t.co/DbE7tSyRWI pic.twitter.com/bH5Tr4silH

—OceanGate Expeditions (@OceanGateExped) January 23, 2023