2023-06-22 18:19:34
The Titan submersible during a descent. OCEANGATE EXPEDITIONS VIA AP
The operator of a submersible missing near the wreck of the Titanic said on Thursday, June 22, it believed all five people on board were dead, due to what the US Coast Guard described as a “catastrophic” implosion of the vessel in the ocean depths. OceanGate Expeditions, the company operating the Titan submersible, said its chief executive Stockton Rush, who was also the vessel’s pilot, and passengers Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet had “sadly been lost.” A “debris field” was discovered earlier on Thursday, June 22, by an underwater robot searching near the wreck of the Titanic for a missing submersible, rescuers said, raising fears the five onboard were no longer alive.
Marine scientist and oceanographer David Mearns, who specializes in deep water search and recovery operations, said the discovery of the debris indicated a “catastrophic failure,” probably “an implosion.” “They don’t use phrases like ‘debris field’ unless there’s no chance of a recovery of the men alive. A debris field implies a breakup of the submersible,” he told Sky News. “The only saving grace regarding that is that it would have been immediate, literally in milliseconds, and the men would have had no idea what was happening,” added Mearns.
If the noises, heard on Tuesday and Wednesday, June 20 and 21, raised hopes that the passengers were still alive, a top-secret military acoustic detection system designed to spot enemy submarines first heard what the US Navy suspected was the Titan implosion hours following the submersible began its voyage, officials involved in the search said. That anomaly was “consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general vicinity of where the Titan submersible was operating when communications were lost,” according to the senior Navy official.
Read more Article reserved for our subscribers Titanic submersible search: Race once morest time as massive rescue effort continues
‘Untested design’
The French research ship Atalante deployed an unmanned robot able to search at depths of up to 6,000 meters below water on Thursday, June 22. Experts have called the Victor 6000 “the main hope” for underwater rescue. The Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic also deployed a robot that had already reached the ocean floor and begun its search.
Mauger has also said vessels transporting medical staff and a decompression chamber were en route to the area. The 6.5-meter Titan began its descent at 8:00 am on Sunday and had been due to resurface seven hours later. But the craft lost communication with its mothership less than two hours into its trip to see the Titanic. It was carrying British billionaire Hamish Harding and dual Pakistani-British citizens Shahzada Dawood, a tycoon, and his son Suleman. OceanGate Expeditions charges $250,000 for a seat on the submersible.
Also on board was OceanGate’s chief executive Stockton Rush and a French submarine operator Paul-Henri Nargeolet, nicknamed “Mr. Titanic” for his frequent dives at the site. Ships and planes have scoured around 20,000 square kilometers of surface water for the vessel, roughly the size of the US state of Massachusetts. The Titanic’s watery grave is situated around 645 kilometers off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Experts have said that raising it from deep water would be challenging even if the submersible was found. The Navy has sent a specialized winch system for lifting heavy objects from extreme depths along with other equipment and personnel, while the Pentagon has deployed three C-130 aircraft and three C-17s.
In 2018, OceanGate Expeditions’ former director of marine operations, David Lochridge, alleged in a lawsuit that he had been fired following raising concerns regarding the company’s “experimental and untested design” of the Titan.
Tributes pouring in from across the world
The White House offered its condolences to the families mourning the five people killed aboard the Titan submersible in a statement released on the followingnoon of June 22: “Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives on the Titan(…) They have been through a harrowing ordeal over the past few days, and we are keeping them in our thoughts and prayers.” The statement also thanked the searchers, including the Coast Guard, involved in the international effort to find the submersible: “This has been a testament to the skill and professionalism that the men and women who serve our nation continue to demonstrate every single day.”
Rear Admiral John Mauger of the First Coast Guard District pointed out in a statement “The outpouring of support in this highly complex search operation has been greatly appreciated. Our most heartfelt condolences go out to the friends and loved ones of the crew.”
The Pakistan government early in the morning of Friday, June 22, offered its condolences to the family of British-Pakistani father and son duo Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, who were among the five people who died on the Titanic submersible. “Our deepest condolences to the Dawood family and the family of other passengers on the sad news regarding the fate of Titanic submersible in the North Atlantic,” the ministry of foreign affairs said.
The foreign secretary of the United Kingdom, James Cleverly, posted on Twitter: “Tragic news that those on the Titan submersible, including three British citizens, have been lost following an international search operation. The UK government is closely supporting the families affected and expresses our deepest condolences.
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