Five days since Titan, the tourist submersible operated by OceanGate Expeditions to explore the wreckage of Titanic, went missing in the North Atlantic, rescuers are racing against time in a last-ditch effort to rescue the five men onboard the vessel. The oxygen supply onboard is rapidly dwindling as the 96-hour emergency capability will likely run out Thursday evening (local time).
US Coast Guard said the search is currently focused on a remote patch of the North Atlantic sea after the search team detected underwater sounds but officials said they aren't certain that the sounds originated from the vessel.
Onboard the 21-foot-long vessel is renowned British adventurer Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, French diving expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet and OceanGate chief executive Stockton Rush. The submersible was on the way to view the wreck of Titanic, lying nearly 3.8km below the surface, when it lost contact with the mother ship. The small vessel, the size of a minivan, disappeared on Sunday, about 1 hour and 45 minutes into its descent.
Equipment supplied via a US Airforce airlift is loaded onto the Horizon Arctic as it prepares to depart in support of the search for the missing OceanGate Expeditions submersible | Reuters
The U.S. Coast Guard has deployed Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) near where the undersea noises were captured by the sonobuoys on Tuesday and Wednesday. However, the search ended in vain.
US Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick told reporters that analysis of the noises has been "inconclusive." "When you’re in the middle of a search-and-rescue case, you always have hope. With respect to the noises specifically, we don’t know what they are," Frederick said.
He added that the surface search was an area equivalent to twice the size of Connecticut and 4km deep.
The Coast Guard has also sought the service of the French research ship Atalante which boasts of a submersible robot, dubbed the Victor 6000. Victor 6000 is equipped with a special salvage system designed to lift large and heavy undersea objects such as sunken aircraft or small vessels, reported Reuters.
Besides, 10 extra ships and several remote submarines have joined the search during its most critical hours. Even if the Titan surfaces - it is equipped with the technology to return to the surface after 24 hours - those stuck inside cannot free themselves as the locks cannot be unlatched from outside. Another possibility is that the submersible is stuck on the ocean floor. In this scenario, retrieving it is not easy because of the massive pressures and total darkness at a depth of more than 2 miles.
Questions raised about safety
As the focus shifts to the safety of the submersible, reports have emerged that two OceanGate employees had raised concerns about the safety, concerning the thickness of its hull and the materials used. The 23,000-pound craft is made of highly engineered carbon fibre and titanium.
The concerns about the hull were raised by OceanGate’s former head of marine operations, David Lochridge, during a 2018 symposium. He argued that the vehicle cannot withstand extreme pressure. A lawsuit was filed later by Lochride over his termination. As per OceanGate's claim, Lochride refused to accept assurances from the company’s lead engineer and breached the company's confidentiality policy.
Industry leaders had also expressed unease about OceanGate's "experimental approach" to the Titan and its planned Titanic trip in 2018.
"There are 10 submarines in the world that can go 12,000 ft and deeper," said Will Kohnen of the Marine Technology Society. "All of them are certified except the OceanGate submersible."
