All five people on-board the missing submersible Titan are believed to have died in a “catastrophic implosion”. The operating company OceanGate released a statement on Thursday paying tribute to those on the lost vessel.
The US coast guard told the media “the debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber”.
“Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families.” It is not yet clear when the implosion could have happened during the dive, the coast guard said.
The sub lost contact with its surface vessel on Sunday while diving to the wreck of the Titanic.
Summary of Thursday’s developments
- Tributes have been paid to the five men who were on-board the sub when it went missing
- OceanGate released a statement on Thursday saying “we now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost”
- The US coast guard said on Thursday the found debris is “consistent with a catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber” in the submersible
- The debris was found close to the wreck of the Titanic at a depth of some 3.8km below the ocean’s surface
- A family member of the British billionaire Hamish Harding, who was on-board the submersible when it went missing, has said it took OceanGate, the operator of the sub, “far too long” to report its disappearance
James Cameron ‘struck by the similarity’ of Titan’s loss to Titanic’s sinking
James Cameron says he is “struck by the similarity” of the Titan submersible tragedy and the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.
The Hollywood director said many in the deep submergence engineering community had been “deeply concerned” about the OceanGate Expeditions craft that was reported missing on Sunday.
Cameron, who directed 1997 Oscar-winning film Titanic, has designed and built similar submersibles and had himself visited the wreckage of the famous ocean liner 33 times.
Speaking to ABC News about submersible engineering, Cameron said: “This is a mature art and many people in the community were very concerned about the sub.
“A number of the top players in the deep submergence engineering community even wrote letters to the company, saying that what they were doing was too experimental to carry passengers and they needed to be certified.
“So I’m struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship, and yet he steamed at full speed into an ice field on a moonless night and many people died as a result.
“For a very similar tragedy where warnings went unheeded to take place at the same exact site, with all the diving that’s going on all around the world – I think it’s just astonishing.”
Cameron said the loss of French veteran Titanic explorer Paul Henri Nargeolet, who he described as a “legendary submersible dive pilot” and a friend of 25 years, was “surreal”.
“For him to have died tragically in this way is almost impossible for me to process,” the director told ABC.
Tributes paid to Dawood family by Pakistan government
Pakistan’s foreign ministry has paid tribute to the Dawood family after it was confirmed UK-based businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman are believed to have died on board the Titan submersible.
A statement on Twitter said: “Our deepest condolences to the Dawood family and the family of other passengers on the sad news about the fate of Titanic (sic) submersible in the North Atlantic.
“We appreciate the multinational efforts over the last several days in search of the vessel.”
The Titan’s crew members and Explorers Club tribute
Those aboard the submersible were British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding (58), French veteran Titanic explorer Paul Henri Nargeoloet (77), British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood (48) and his 19-year-old son Suleman and 61-year-old American Stockton Rush, co-founder of OceanGate, the company that operated the sub.
Harding and Nargeolet were members of The Explorers Club, an international group focused on scientific exploration and field study. The club’s president Richard Garriott de Cayeux paid tribute to them in a statement on the club’s website:
“Our hearts are broken. I am so sorry to have to share this tragic news. Our friends and fellow Explorers Club members Hamish Harding and Paul-Henri Nargeolet are lost, along with Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, while trying to reach the RMS Titanic.
“Hamish Harding is a dear friend to me personally and to The Explorers Club. He holds several world records and has continued to push dragons off maps both in person and through supporting expeditions and worthy causes. Paul-Henri was elected to the Club in 2001 and was one of the foremost experts on submersible expeditions to the Titanic. They were both drawn to explore, like so many of us, and did so in the name of meaningful science for the betterment of mankind. They pushed themselves in their entrepreneurial pursuits as they did in exploration.
“We’re heartbroken for the families, friends and colleagues of those who were lost. Their memories will be a blessing and will continue to inspire us in the name of science and exploration.”
Sub operator’s safety record and abilities of vessel questioned
The safety record of OceanGate, and the ability of the Titan sub to withstand massive pressure at depths of more than 3,600m, have been called into question in recent days, with industry experts and former passengers expressing concerns.
Nicolai Roterman, a deep-sea ecologist and lecturer in marine biology at the University of Portsmouth, UK, told the Associated Press that the Titan’s disappearance highlighted the danger and uncertainties of deep-sea tourism.
“Even the most reliable technology can fail, and therefore accidents will happen. With the growth in deep-sea tourism, we must expect more incidents like this,” he said.
Deep-sea exploration expert Mark Martin told CNN that the reported loss of the Titan’s passengers was tragic.
VIDEO: US Coast Guard confirms ‘catastrophic loss’ of Titan sub
Too early to know when implosion happened
Rear admiral John Mauger said at the press conference that it is too early to know when during the dive the “catastrophic implosion” took place.
“We’ve had sonar buoys in the water nearly continuously and have not detected any catastrophic events when those buoys have been in the water.”
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Carl Hartsville said the debris that was found is some 500m feet from the Titanic when he said was asked how likely it was that the submersible collided with the wreck.
That area does not have any debris of Titanic, he says.
“It is a smooth bottom there. To my knowledge and anything I’ve seen there’s no Titanic wreckage in that area.”
“It’s consistent with the location of last communication for an implosion in the water column. The size of the debris field is consistent with that implosion in the water column.”
Banging sounds not related to missing sub
Underwater banging sounds detected by search teams earlier in the week do not appear to be related to the missing submersible, the US coast guard said.
“There doesn’t appear to be any connection between the noises and the location on the sea floor.”
‘I offer my deepest condolences to the families’
Rear admiral John Mauger told a press conference in Boston on Thursday: “This morning, an ROV, or remote operated vehicle from the vessel Horizon Arctic discovered the tail cone of the Titan submersible approximately 1,600ft from the bow of the Titanic on the sea floor.
“The ROV subsequently found additional debris. In consultation with experts from within the unified command, the debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber.
“On behalf of the United States Coast Guard and the entire unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families. I can only imagine what this has been like for them.
“And I hope that this discovery provides some solace during this difficult time.”
Asked during the conference on the possibility of recovering the bodies of the deceased, Mauger said: “This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor and the debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel.
“We’ll continue to work and continue to search the area down there, but I don’t have an answer for prospects at this time.”
Major pieces indicated identity of debris
“Five major pieces of debris” found by authorities indicated they were from the Titan, including a nose cone, the front end of the pressure hull and the back end of the pressure hull, a salvage expert for the US navy said.
Paul Hankins said that finding these pieces of debris indicated there was a “catastrophic event”.
US coast guard confirms debris was from Titan submersible
A US coast guard official told a press briefing in Boston that a remote-operated vehicle found the tail cone of the submersible some 500m from the bow of the Titanic on the floor on the Atlantic.
The debris is “consistent with a catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber” in the submersible, rear admiral John Mauger said.
“Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families on behalf of the United States Coast Guard and the entire unified command. I offer my deepest condolences to the families.”
OceanGate statement in full
“We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost.
These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans. Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.
This is an extremely sad time for our dedicated employees who are exhausted and grieving deeply over this loss. The entire OceanGate family is deeply grateful for the countless men and women from multiple organisations of the international community who expedited wide-ranging resources and have worked so very hard on this mission.
We appreciate their commitment to finding these five explorers, and their days and nights of tireless work in support of our crew and their families.
This is a very sad time for the entire explorer community, and for each of the family members of those lost at sea.
We respectfully ask that the privacy of these families be respected during this most painful time.”
‘Those on-board have sadly been lost’, says operating company
OceanGate, the operator of the missing submersible Titan, has said in a statement that “those on-board have sadly been lost”.
The company said all five people that were on-board are believed to be dead.
Debris field from missing vessel, CNN reports
A debris field that was found near the wreckage of the Titanic in the North Atlantic has been assessed to be from the missing Titan submersible’s external body, CNN reported on Thursday, citing sources.
Vessel may have suffered ‘instantaneous implosion’, says operator founder
OceanGate’s founder, Guillermo Söhnlein who established the operator alongside Titan passenger Stockton Rush, has said the vessel may have suffered from an “instantaneous implosion”.
Söhnlein told BBC News: “I know that our protocol for lost comms is for the pilot to surface the sub. From the beginning I always thought that’s probably what Stockton would have done. In which case it becomes very difficult to find the sub because the surface ship wouldn’t have known it was coming up and wouldn’t have known where to look.
“My biggest fear through this whole thing watching the operations unfold is that they’re floating around on the surface and they’re just very difficult to find.”
Söhnlein said it is possible the submersible may have suffered from a catastrophe.
“What I do know is regardless of the sub, when you’re operating at depth the pressure is so great on any sub that if there is a failure it would be an instantaneous implosion. If that’s what happened that’s what would have happened four days ago.”
ROV company says focus now on families of those on-board and ‘their tragic loss’
A company whose remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) found the debris field near the Titanic has reportedly said its focus is now on “the families of those on the Titan and for their tragic loss”.
Speaking to CNN on Thursday, Pelagic Research Services said its ROV found the debris field.
Sky News reported that a now deleted statement on the company’s website read:
“PRS want to express our full gratitude for the incredible, co-ordinated rescue response of everyone involved in this search and rescue mission. Our focus right now is on the families of those on the Titan and for their tragic loss.”
Pelagic’s ROV was the first to conduct a search for the missing sub on the sea floor.
No official statement on any deaths from the US coast guard or unified command involved in the search has been released but the US coast guard is due to give a media briefing in Boston at 8pm Irish time.
Debris found in search area is from missing submersible, rescue expert says
A rescue expert has said the debris found in the search for the missing submersible was a “landing frame and a rear cover” from the vessel.
David Mearns, a friend of two passengers on-board Titan, told Sky News about the debris and said he is in a WhatsApp group involving The Explorer’s Club, of which the British billionaire Hamish Harding, who is on the submersible, is a member.
Mr Mearns said the president of the club is “directly connected” to the ships in the search area and told the WhatsApp group about the details of the debris.
Mr Mearns also told Sky News: “A debris field implies there’s a break up of the submersible and at that depth, because we know that they lost communications at around 3,300m ... so that really indicates what is the worst case scenario which is a catastrophic failure, an implosion.
He said if “it was the case of an implosion is that “it would have been immediate”.
“Literally in milliseconds, and the men would have had no idea what was happening.”
RAF planes bring equipment and personnel
Two Royal Air Force (RAF) planes have landed in Canada, transferring equipment and personnel as part of the UK’s latest effort to assist with the hunt for the missing Titan submersible.
A British submariner has also been seconded to the search and rescue team looking for the vessel, which went missing during a voyage to the Titanic wreck site.
The C-17 Globemaster and A400M Atlas aircraft departed RAF Lossiemouth in northeast Scotland on Thursday to fly to St John’s in Canada.
A Downing Street spokesman earlier said the C-17 aircraft will transport “specialist commercial equipment” provided by Channel Islands-based deep water specialists Magellan.
Operator took ‘far too long’ to report disappearance, says billionaire’s cousin
British billionaire Hamish Harding’s family have said it took OceanGate, the operator the submersible, “far too long” to report its disappearance.
Contact between the submersible and its mother ship, Polar Prince, was lost at about 9.45am local time on Sunday. an hour and 45 minutes after it began its dive to the wreck of the Titanic, some 3,800m below the surface. The US coast guard was not informed of the missing craft until 5.40pm local time on the same day.
Harding is one of five on-board the missing vessel. His cousin, Kathleen Cosnett, told the Telegraph on Thursday: “It’s very frightening. [It] took so long for them to get going to rescue [them], it’s far too long. I would have thought three hours would be the bare minimum.”
Time lapse of vessels involved in search
The vessel tracking service, MarineTraffic has compiled a time lapse of the search operation.
It shows the movements of vessels involved and how they were dispatched to assist along with specialist equipment from the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and France.
Daughter of submersible passenger remains hopeful
The daughter of one of the five people inside the submersible missing near the wreck of the Titanic said she continued to hope they will be rescued but said she is comforted by the knowledge that her father, oceanographer Henri Nargeolet, is in the place he loved most.
Sidonie Nargeolet told Reuters on Thursday she was living with “a lot of stress, very mixed emotions” as the desperate search for the missing submersible near the wreck of the Titanic entered a critical phase on Thursday, when air was expected to run out for the five people aboard.
“At times, I have a lot of hope, I am fine, I believe and have a lot of hope. But in others, hope goes away and it is hard to endure, and as more time goes by it gets harder,” Nargeolet (39) said in the town of La Massana, in the European microstate of Andorra where she lives.
“Sometimes I don’t check [the news] because I don’t want to hear them saying that they now have very low oxygen. I prefer to listen to positive things, to hope, that they will continue looking for them,” she said, adding she felt relieved knowing her father’s vast experience underwater.
“If they are not found, it will be very sad for us because we will not see him again. What he liked the most was to be in a submarine, [near] the Titanic. He is where he really loved being. I would prefer him [dying] at a place where he is very happy,” Ms Nargeolet said, struggling to hold back her tears.
Debris field found within search area
The US coast guard has said it has found a debris field within the search area for the submersible Titan.
The debris field was discovered near the wreck of the Titanic by a remote-operated vehicle (ROV).
“Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information,” the coast guard said in a tweet.
The coast guard is due to hold a media briefing from its base in Boston around 8pm Irish time.
Canadian naval ship with specialised medical equipment on scene
The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre Halifax of the Canadian Armed Forces has said the Royal Canadian navy ship HMCS Glace Bay is now on the scene of the search and is carrying a medical team that specialises in dive medicine and a decompression chamber.
The Halifax centre also said that three Canadian Coast Guard Ships – John Cabot, Ann Harvey and Terry Fox – are still taking part in the search efforts. A Royal Canadian Air Force CP-140 Aurora aircraft is continuing to provide assistance in the search and is capable of surface search and subsurface acoustic detection.
VIDEO: As the search continues, two former passengers, CBS reporter David Pogue and Simpsons writer Mike Reiss, have described what it is like inside the vessel during a dive.
The search for the Titan submersible mapped
Since the Titan submersible lost contact with its mother ship, Polar Prince, on Sunday morning, a major international search and rescue operation has covered some 26,000 sq km of freezing Atlantic Ocean around the site of the Titanic’s wreck.
The craft is believed to be about 1,400km east and 700km south of Newfoundland. It is not known how deep the vessel is, with the seabed being around 3,800m from the surface.
Today a ‘critical day’ in search for missing vessel, says OceanGate co-founder
“Today will be a critical day in this search and rescue mission, as the sub’s life support supplies are starting to run low,” Guillermo Sohnlein, who cofounded the company behind the submersible and left in 2013, said in a statement on Wednesday
The search for the 6m vessel, the Titan, has already covered almost 26,000 sq km of ocean, some 2,000 sq km larger than Munster. The focus has been on noises that search crews detected underwater days after the submersible lost contact with a nearby ship during a dive to the wreckage of the Titanic on Sunday. Experts say it is not yet clear where the noises came from.
The size and technical capabilities of the search mission are still expanding. One of the ships is carrying a French-operated robot capable of reaching the depth of the Titanic wreck, more than 3km below the surface. The US navy was also sending a machine that can help recover heavy objects from oceans.
The Titan is believed to have started its deep-sea dive with a roughly 96-hour air supply – enough to last until Thursday morning, or longer if its occupants stay calm and avoid panicked breathing. In discussing the amount of oxygen left on the Titan, rear admiral John Mauger of the US coast guard said Thursday that “people’s will to live really needs to be accounted for, as well.”
Capt Jamie Frederick of the US coast guard told reporters Wednesday that he did not want to speculate about when the operation might end. “Sometimes you’re in a position where you have to make a tough decision,” he said. “We’re not there yet.”
‘World’s leading experts and equipment’ being used in search
Rear admiral John Mauger confirmed the US coast guard is in contact with the UK Channel Islands-based company Magellan on how they can assist with the search after an ROV reached the sea floor.
He said: “It’s been an incredibly complex effort and we’ve brought together the world’s leading experts and equipment to the site, and so we remain hopeful at this point, and we continue with the search-and-rescue efforts. Our focus is on using the capability that we have now on site to locate the people and submersible.”
He added: “During the initial response we received, we’re grateful for all of the support and offers of assistance.
“We’ve mobilised to move the Magellan on site and on to the scene, and we’re actively working that logistics plan right now, but the most important thing is that we have remote operated vehicles that are highly capable that are operating on the sea floor that have sensors and the ability to conduct a rescue.
“In addition, we have brought a medical team out to the site with a hyperbaric chamber, so our focus as a unified command is bringing on the expertise and bringing on the capability to the maximum extent to effect a search and rescue, and we’re going to continue that effort.”
The US coast guard has given an update on the weather conditions in the search area
Investigation to be held into events leading to disappearance
Mr Mauger confirmed there will be an investigation into what has led to the submersible going missing.
He told Sky News: “There’s going to be a time and place for a thorough investigation.
“I don’t know what that looks like right now. The focus of the unified command is on the search and rescue, and so we’re going to continue to use all those assets that we have on scene and really focus on locating the submersible and the people on board.”
When asked about a look at the safety of the deep-sea vessel in the future, he confirmed the priority right now is the search-and-rescue operation of Titan and its crew.
He said: “There will be a thorough investigation, I’m sure of that, I don’t know what that looks like right now but the unified command can tell you we are focused on search and rescue.
“This is really the focus for our unified efforts right now and so we’re going to continue to prosecute the search and rescue. That discussion can be had at a later time.”
Any decision to stop rescue will be taken after ‘thorough consultation’ with families
Rear admiral John Mauger said any decision to stop the rescue effort will be taken after “thorough consultation” with the families of those who are on board.
He told Sky News: “There’s a time and place for that discussion, right now we have this new capability that is available on the sea floor actively conducting the search and rescue, so my focus right now is, and the focus of the unified command, is really on maximising the use of those assets that we have on scene.
“We will remain focused on the search and rescue but continue to take in all available information as we plan out our future operation.”
Asked who will make that call, Mr Mauger said the unified command, which has been in “frequent” communication with families of those on board, will evaluate data and plan operations.
He added: “Most importantly, we’re going to talk with the families and advise them of where we are in the search-and-rescue operations.
“So, there will be a time and place for that decision, that decision will be taken after thorough consultation with the families, but we’re continuing to focus on the search and rescue at this time.”
Sounds detected may have been ‘background ocean noise’
Sounds detected by a Canadian aircraft earlier this week may have been generated by “background ocean noise”, initial analysis by the US naval service suggests.
Rear admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard told Sky News that officers were continuing their analysis and that it will continue to look for all “valuable information” regarding the underwater sounds detected.
The US Coast Guard says it is still carrying out an “active search and rescue operation”, adding that “remains hopeful at this point”.
“This is still an active search and rescue operation at this point, we’re using the equipment that we have on at the bottom of the ROVs [remotely operated vehicles] to expand our search capabilities.
“Conditions for the search and rescue are favourable right now, we’re making the most of the weather window.”
Asked whether it is too late, Mr Mauger said: “It’s been an incredibly complex effort. We remain hopeful at this point.”
Teenager trapped in a submersible is student attending university in Glasgow
Suleman Dawood, 19, one of five people on board the Titan, is a student at the University of Strathclyde. His father Shahzada Dawood, 48, a businessman lives in southwest London.
A university spokesman told the BBC they were deeply concerned about the student, his father and others in the vessel.
“Our thoughts are with their families and loved ones and we continue to hope for a positive outcome,” he said.
Earlier this week a family statement described Sulemen as a “big fan of science fiction literature and learning new things”, and having an interest in Rubik’s cubes and playing volleyball.
His father is from one of Pakistan’s richest families and is vice-chairman of Pakistani firm Engro Corporation, a large fertiliser firm.
The family, including Shahzada’s wife, Christine, and other child, Alina, live in southwest London.
Shahzada is also a supporter of two charities founded by King Charles – the British Asian Trust and the Prince’s Trust International. His family said he was interested in “exploring different natural habitats”, and had previously spoken at both the United Nations and Oxford Union.
Update from US Coast Guard: ‘French vessel has just deployed their ROV (remotely operated vehicle)’
L’Atalante, the French research vessel, has just deployed its remotely operated vehicle, Victor 6000, the US Coast Guard said.
The Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic has also deployed its own remotely operated vehicle “that has reached the sea floor and began its search for the missing sub,” the Coast Guard said.
Additional search vessels arrive
Several search vessels are now at the scene including French research vessel L’Atalante, which is preparing its deep-sea robot to enter the water.
There are also a number of Canadian Coast Guard ships, according to data from boat tracking website MarineTraffic.com, and others equipped with remote submersibles.
Among the boats taking part in the search and rescue mission include:
- CGS John Cabot, Canadian Coast Guard
- CGS Ann Harvey, Canadian Coast Guard
- CGS Terry Fox, Canadian Coast Guard
- Horizon Arctic, offshore tug/supply ship
- His Majesty’s Canadian Ship Glace Bay, coastal defence vessel with mobile decompression chamber and medical personnel
- L’Atalante, a French research vessel with deep-sea robot
- Polar Prince, mother ship of missing Titan submersible
- Deep Energy, pipe-laying ship with remote submersibles
- Atlantic Merlin, tug/supply vessel
- Skandi Vinland, vessel with two inbuilt remote operated vessels
12.08pm Irish time: the point at which oxygen supplies may run out
The US Coast Guard projected yesterday that the supply of breathable air in the Titan submersible was likely to run out at 12.08pm Irish time today.
It was estimated to have a 96-hour supply of oxygen when it set out on its voyage to the Titanic ship wreck on Sunday, assuming the five men on board survived after Titan lost contact with its support vessel.
However, experts have warned predictions over remaining supplies are imprecise and can vary according to a range of factors, such as whether the passengers have made efforts to conserve air.
Dr Simon Boxall, a senior lecturer in oceanography at the University of Southampton, told Sky News that exact predictions are “a bit of a misnomer”.
“We don’t really know their estimates and it does depend very much on the exact capacity in those bottles.”
It also depends on how the passengers are reacting, Dr Boxall said.
“If they’re panicking, they would have run out already. If they are conserving oxygen somehow, then they could last a bit longer.”
Submersible robot joins hunt: ‘Even if hope is slim, we’ll go all the way’
The Atalante, a French research boat, has arrived at the site and is carrying a deep-sea robot called Victor 6000, according to the French research institute Ifremer.
The submersible has two mechanical arms capable of delicate manoeuvres such as cutting cables or removing debris.
Its 6,000m diving capability means it can go deeper than the Titanic itself, which lies at a depth of about 3,810 metres (12,500ft).
“Victor is able to do visual exploration with all the video equipment it has. It is also equipped with manipulating arms which could be used to extricate the sub, such as by sectioning cables or things that would be blocking it at the bottom,” Olivier Lefort, head of naval operations at Ifremer, told Reuters.
The robot is operated by a 25-strong crew. “We can work non-stop for up to 72 hours, we don’t need to stop at night,” he said.
Lefort added: “We don’t know what happened. The noises that were heard give us hope the submarine is on the seabed and that people are still alive, but other scenarios are possible. Even if hope is slim, we’ll go all the way.”
Reuters is reporting a French research vessel carrying a deep-sea diving robot, capable of reaching depths as low as the Titan may have potentially sunk, has slowed down as it reaches the search area for the missing submersible.
Marine Traffic data showed the ship, which is called the Atalante, had slowed to a speed of 6 nautical knots and was located about 20km to 30km from the Polar Prince vessel, which had carried the missing Titan submersible to waters above the Titanic wreck.
For younger readers (who may not have seen the 1997 classic film staring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio), the Titanic was a British-owned passenger liner, constructed in Belfast, that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15th, 1912 after striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton in England to New York City. More than 1,500 people died among 2,224 passengers on board.
OceanGate Expeditions, the company behind the Titan submersible, has carried out expeditions down to the wreck of the ship in recent years and it was where the recent crew were heading before the journey went awry.
While everyone waits for updates and further information on the search operation, as teams increasingly now race against time running out to rescue the Titan crew alive, the Boston US Coast Guard (where the search operation is being co-ordinated from) is one notable account to follow on Twitter. Here’s their latest update from late on Wednesday:
For some context, here’s a previous photo of what the inside of the submersible looks like. Described as about the size of a minivan, with little room to stand and no chairs, the crew of five travelling in the craft would have to sit with their back to the cylindrical walls of the vessel
If the Titan is still intact and can be located on the seabed, bringing it and its crew inside back up to the surface is likely to pose huge logistical challenges.
A French research ship with a robotic diving craft able to descend to the depth of the wreck of the Titanic (something very few vessels can do) is en route to assist the search.
While that submersible would not have the power to tow the Titan back to the surface, the possibility of it being able to hook the sub to a ship on the surface strong enough to lift it up has been raised.
However, it would be a complex operation, even if rescuers knew the location of the Titan, as the window of time where its crew would still have oxygen supplies gets smaller and smaller.
Deep-sea explorer Dr David Gallo believes it would take a “miracle” to rescue those trapped in Titan, but remains optimistic, PA reports.
“Maybe two days ago my hope was sliding downward rapidly, but then these noises appeared and there seems to be very credible sources there, credible and repeatable.
“We’ll see how that pans out but everything is happening very quickly, so we have a race against time,” he told Good Morning Britain. “Our hopes are high. We need a miracle at this point, but miracles do happen, so I’m very optimistic,” he said.
It is estimated that the Titan may likely run out of oxygen at some point on Thursday morning.
The exact time the submersible vessel’s oxygen supplies would be used up would depend on several factors, such as whether the small crew were able to control their breathing and remain calm over recent days, despite losing contact.
OceanGate chief executive and founder Stockton Rush told a US television network he was aware of the risks involved with diving thousands of metres beneath the ocean surface during an interview in December 2022.
Mr Rush was speaking to CBS Sunday Morning when he said his “biggest fear” was “things that will stop me from being able to get to the surface”.
“Overhangs, fish nets, entanglement hazards. And, that’s just a technique, piloting technique. It’s pretty clear – if it’s an overhang, don’t go under it. If there is a net, don’t go near it. So, you can avoid those if you are just slow and steady.”
The chief executive also said “there’s a limit” to how safe it could make the operation despite introducing some procedures.
“I mean, if you just want to be safe, don’t get out of bed. Don’t get in your car. Don’t do anything. At some point, you’re going to take some risk, and it really is a risk-reward question. I think I can do this just as safely by breaking the rules.”
Recovering the missing Titan submersible and bringing its crew to safety in time using the latest advanced deep-sea rescue equipment would be an extremely difficult task, an expert has said.
Even if Titan is located, a successful rescue would require remote-controlled vehicles (ROVs) capable of allowing operators on the surface a clear view of the submersible’s location, any obstacles that may be present and where to attach cables capable of lifting it thousands of metres through the water.
If the Titan and its five-person crew did arrive at the Titanic wreck, they will be located 12,500ft (3,800m) below the surface on the seabed – too deep for most ROVs to reach.
Only a “tiny percentage of the world’s submarines operate that deeply”, David Marquet, a former US naval service submarine commander, told CBC.
Wendy Rush, who is married to Stockton Rush, OceanGate chief executive and pilot aboard the Titan submersible, is also a descendant of a couple who lost their lives aboard the famed ship.
The New York Times reports Ms Rush is the great-great-granddaughter of L’Atalante and Ida Straus, two first-class passengers who were aboard the Titanic when it went down in 1912.
The couple were among the Titanic’s wealthiest passengers. Isidor and his brother co-owned a Macy’s department store. Survivors reported watching Isidor refuse a seat on a life raft, a scene that was recreated in the film dramatisation of the disaster.
Ms Rush, who married Stockton Rush in 1986, is also the communications director at OceanGate and has visited the Titanic wreck three times.
The search for the OceanGate Expeditions tourist submersible is entering its fourth day after the vessel was reported overdue on Sunday evening about 700km south of St John’s, Newfoundland.
Officials have still said they are hopeful of a rescue despite growing concerns the oxygen supply on board is becoming dangerously low. Equipment from the United States, Canada, the UK and France has been brought in to help find the vessel.
Experts have said the search remains a technically challenging task because of the potential for bad weather and the difficulty in locating a small vessel in a vast ocean.
So far the search has concentrated around an area where sounds were detected repeating at 30-minute intervals but authorities have said they have been unable to confirm the origin of these sounds.
As of Wednesday night local time remotely operated deep-sea vehicles (ROV), capable of operating down to depths of 6km, were heading to the area to join the search and the US naval service is also sending a heavy-lifting system called Fadoss.
It is understood the vessel had enough oxygen on board for 96 hours, though the true extent of its supply depends on several various including whether the vessel remains powered, the activity of those on board and whether they have remained calm and are able to control their breathing.
