It is a delicate operation that opened in the heart of the Atlantic Ocean. Since Sunday afternoon, the Titan submarine disappeared with five people on board. The small device was heading to the site of the shipwreck of the famous Titanic, a tourist service offered by the company OceanGate Expeditions.
• Race against the clock
To help explorers, OceanGate is supported by the US and Canadian Coast Guards. Everyone is now engaged in a race against time.
In an emergency, the submersible has oxygen reserves to be “autonomous” between 70 and 96 hours after launch. Depending on the scenarios, the five missing will run out of air at the earliest on Wednesday at 11 am (Paris time) and at the latest on Thursday in the early afternoon. A time factor that could be less important in the event that the submarine had surfaced.
• Two planes, a submarine and sonar buoys.
The joint authorities have put in place human and material resources to find Titan. Two military planes guard the search area, 1,400 kilometers from the North American coast, in the Atlantic Ocean, an American C-130 and a Canadian P8.
Air searches were unsuccessful during the day on Monday and were stopped overnight. They are expected to intensify on Tuesday.
A submarine and sonar buoys were also launched on Monday. These allow activity to be monitored down to 3,950 meters down, roughly the depth of the Titanic wreck they were looking for. By combining aircraft and nautical devices, rescuers can monitor the surface and depths.
“This is an isolated area, it is difficult to conduct investigations there (…) We are deploying all available means to locate the vessel and rescue the people on board,” US counterinsurgent Admiral John Mauger said Monday. .
• The question of depth
Standby distance is an issue, but so is depth. Alistair Greig, professor of marine engineering at University College London, believes that two things could have happened to the device. First, you may have encountered an electrical or communications problem and surfaced “waiting to be found.”
Second scenario: the hull was compromised and the device could begin a descent to the bottom of the ocean. However, “very few ships [de secours] can go” to this depth.
This Tuesday, the means made available to the authorities and OceanGate Expeditions should be further strengthened. In addition to the new air support, commercial frigates are also expected to be used in the surrounding area.
Source: BFM TV
