With only “about 40 hours of breathable air” left for the Titan’s passengers, this small submersible left to visit the wreckage of the Titanic 4,000 meters deep in the North Atlantic, and missing since Sunday.
The investigation so far has turned up nothing, despite significant resources deployed, including two planes, ships and a robot. Among those who are saved, a British businessman, Hamish Harding, 58, who announced this Sunday on Instagram his participation in this extreme, extraordinary and historic scientific excursion. Former naval officer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, a French specialist in the wreckage of the Titanic, is also on the trip, according to his family.
full capacity
Also on board this $250,000 dive was Pakistani tycoon Shahzada Dawood, 48, a vice president of the Engro conglomerate, who was on board with her 19-year-old son Suleman, according to the wealthy family, who confirmed that “contact ( had) lost” since Sunday.
The race against time is all the more urgent since the submersible only has a capacity for five people and is therefore at full capacity. At about 6.50 meters long, the Titan had broken a world record as the first non-military submarine to dive below 3,000 meters deep, recalls the New York Post.
“A Tiny Ship”
Passenger dives can go as deep as 10 meters and the interior of the submersible is a bit more spacious than other devices of this type. In photographs shared on social networks by OceanGate Expeditions, the organizer of these trips, several passengers can be seen looking at control screens, in a narrow space illuminated by neon lights. According to these shots, there is only one porthole, located at the front of the plane.
“Titan’s interior is spacious compared to traditional deep-dive submersibles,” explains OceanGate Expeditions, adding that “crew members have ample space to work together to document the Titanic wreck site.”
CNN journalist Gabe Cohen, who had the opportunity to climb inside the Titan, has a different memory. “It’s a tiny boat, quite cramped and small. You have to sit inside, no shoes… It’s operated by a game controller, which basically looks like a PlayStation gamepad,” he said, he testified on his channel.
The place leaves no room for privacy. During the descents, it is possible to go to the toilets, but these are only isolated from the rest of the crew by a curtain. According to the BBC, the pilot turns on the music when a crew member uses the bathroom.
“It can go wrong”
The American screenwriter Mike Reiss, producer of the famous series “The Simpsons”, has already left OceanGate three times, including once in 2022 aboard the same submersible that disappeared. A totally disconcerting experience according to him.
“You almost always lose communication and find yourself at the mercy of the elements and that kind of thing,” he told the BBC. According to him, everyone is perfectly aware of the dangers involved:
“You have to sign a waiver before boarding and death is mentioned three times on the first page. This is not a coach holiday, it can go wrong.”
Once we got to the bottom, “the compass immediately stopped working and just spun. We had to circle blindly on the ocean floor, knowing the Titanic was somewhere,” he said, still describing.
Source: BFM TV
