2023-06-22 20:26:15
The search for the submarine in the North Atlantic near the wreck of the Titanic ended Thursday, with the operating company announcing that it had suffered a “catastrophic internal explosion” that killed its five passengers. Research has been underway on this scientific tourist submarine since Sunday, and the search area on the surface of the water extended over a distance of 20,000 square kilometers.
“We now believe that our President Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood, his son Solomon, Hamish Harding and Paul-Henry Nargoleet are sadly dead,” Oceangate said in a statement.
For its part, the US Coast Guard confirmed that the wreckage of the submarine that was found showed that it had suffered a “catastrophic internal explosion.” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly expressed the government’s “support and condolences” to the families of the departed.
Among the people on the submarine are the wealthy British businessman Hamish Harding, the French diver and former French naval officer Paul-Henri Nargolet, who specializes in the Titanic wreck, according to his family, and the Pakistani businessman Shahzadeh Daoud and his son Suleiman. Each of them paid $250,000 to see the wreckage of the Titanic, which sank in one of the biggest marine disasters of the twentieth century.
Extensive search
The US and Canadian armies, in particular, used large means of air surveillance by C-130 OB-8 planes and ships equipped with submarine robots at the site of the Polar Prince ship, from which the submarine “Titan” was launched.
On Thursday morning, the French research ship “Atlant”, equipped with a Victor 6000 robot capable of diving to the wreckage of the Titanic, arrived at a depth of approximately four thousand meters, according to what was stated by the French Research Institute for the Exploration of the Seas, “Anfremir”, affiliated to it.
On board the submarine were an American, a Frenchman, a British and two Pakistanis. The submarine, which can accommodate five people and has a length of 6.5 meters, had embarked on its journey towards the depths on Sunday.
It was due to return to sea in seven hours, but contact was lost less than two hours after launch. The US Coast Guard warned on Tuesday afternoon that there would only be “about 40 hours of breathable air” on board the submarine.
possible neglect
Since the searches began Sunday, details have revealed that Oceangate has been incriminated with accusations of negligence in the safety of the tourist submarine.
A complaint filed in 2018 appeared and was seen by Agence France-Presse, stating that a former director of the company organizing the trip, David Lockridge, was dismissed from his job because he questioned the safety of the submarine.
The former director of marine operations in the company said that the vision porthole in the bow of the submarine was designed to withstand the pressure at a depth of 1,300 meters, not four thousand meters. And the owner of the American company “Oceangate” Stockton Rush participated in the trip.
The five shortcomings
The former director of marine operations in the company, “Ocean Gate Expeditions,” confirmed that the porthole at the front of the submarine Titan was designed to withstand pressure up to a depth of 1,300 meters, while it dived to a depth of 4,000 meters to see the wreck of the Titanic on Sunday, the famous cruise ship that sank 111 years ago in the waters of the United States. United States and Canada.
Old complaint documents from 2018 showed former Oceangate Expeditions executive David Lockridge was fired after raising concerns about the safety of the submarine Titan.
1- The ability to withstand pressure
The former director of marine operations in the company confirmed that the porthole at the front of the submarine Titan was designed to withstand pressure up to a depth of 1300 meters, while it dived to a depth of 4000 meters to visit the wreck of the Titanic.
Long before the submarine went into operation, the cruise tourism company received a letter from the Marine Technology Society (MTS), which groups thousands of marine engineers, expressing concern about a submarine project that had not been approved by an independent body.
2- Stagnation in innovation
In an interview with Smithsonian magazine in 2019, company president Stockton Rush, who is currently aboard the Titan, criticized manufacturers’ obsession with safety, saying, “There haven’t been any problems in 35 years because there are too many rules, but there’s also stagnation in innovation.” Because of these rules.
3- Safety and quality concerns
For his part, Loughridge filed a lawsuit against the company in response to a lawsuit filed by the company, which accused him of disclosing classified information. The former manager alleged that he verbally expressed his “concerns about safety and quality control” to company management but they ignored him, according to court documents.
4- The “double” of carbon fibres
In an interview published by the French newspaper Le Parisien, Michel Lorre, former head of the Underwater and Underwater Archaeological Research Department, expressed concern about the formation of Titan’s structure.
A friend of Paul-Henri Nargolet, a Titanic specialist and current occupant of the submarine, fears that the cabin, made partly of carbon fiber, cannot withstand the pressure imposed by the abyss where the Titanic lies.
5- Unsuitable window depth
Michel Laure also referred to the size of the window, which is estimated at 60 cm, as it allows its passengers to see the abyss that surrounds the submarine. This ocean window must also withstand the pressure exerted at a depth of 4,000 metres. Lor explained that the company “refused to pay the factory to build a window of the required depth”.
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