2023-06-20 15:53:41
Time.news – Raging waves, fog, a boundless area hundreds of kilometers from the mainland and perhaps the submarine lost thousands of meters below the surface of the sea.
Plus the time passes inexorably and gobbles up the ‘window of opportunity’ to rescue the five people aboard the Titanthe mini-submarine that was supposed to take a group of (daring or inconsiderate?) tourists to see the remains of the Titanic.
© OceanGate.com
Titan
In these hours, the rescuers are faced with a task that borders on feasible: also because it is one thing to locate the vessel, it is quite another to be able to rescue it.
There are US and Canadian coast guards to guide the searches of the small tourist submarine that disappeared with five people on board in an area of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the Canadian island of Newfoundland.
In particular, the US Coast Guard has made it known that searches they will spread to deeper waters. As Rear Admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard explained to CNN. Research work continued throughout the night with a range of partners and that research is now extensive below the surface area.
France also takes the field in the search for the missing Titan submarine: the Ifremer institute hijacked its ship Atalante, which is equipped with an underwater robot capable of descending to great depths, towards the area in the Atlantic Ocean, in front of the Canadian coasts, where the bathyscaphe that was to take tourists to the wreck of the Titanic has disappeared. Atalante should arrive in the area wednesday around 20:00, therefore just in time before the time available for research runs out, a ‘window of opportunity’ given by the oxygen available in the vessel.
The Titan was headed for the famous wreck when it lost contact with the surface: it began its descent on Sunday morning and shortly after lost contact with the Polar Prince, the support vessel that had brought it to the area, for reasons still don’t clarify.
Authorities were notified of her disappearance on Sunday afternoon and the people on board are now estimated to have sufficient oxygen for another 3 daysbasically until Friday.
WHAT TOURISTS SEE ON BOARD THE SUBMARINE
According to Rear Admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard, the searches – in which Polar Prince is also participating – concern an area “about 1,450 kilometers east of Cape Cod, one depth of about 4,000 meters“. “It’s a remote area and it’s difficult to conduct a search in such an area.”
A mini fleet of ships is engaged in the research (private ones have also been asked for help) and, for aerial surveys, two planes, a US C-130 and a Canadian P8 equipped with sonar capable of detecting submarines. But the effort to find them is also hampered by the weather conditions in the area, where the waves can reach up to two meters in height and visibility is poor.
Who are the passengers on board
Among the passengers is a wealthy British businessman, who is also an explorer and space tourist. Hamish Harding58, managing director of private jet sales company Action Aviation based in Dubai.
Harding was among the first to descend to the deepest point of the Mariana Trench, the Challenger Deep, in the Pacific Ocean.
There are also a Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, one of the richest men in his country, and his son Suleman, just 19 years old, owners of an industrial group which, in 2022, had a turnover of 1.2 billion euro: Dawood lives with his family in the UK and sponsors the Seti Institute, an institute in California that aims to explore and understand the origin of the universe.
Also on board is French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet, 73, who led several expeditions to the Titanic and oversaw the recovery of many artifacts from the wreck.
© OceanGate.com
Titan
And Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGatethe company that organized the mission, and which charges up to $250,000 each participant (no seat, you sit on the floor cross-legged) and which does not require any diving experience for the brave (as explained on the tour operator’s website).
Time is running out
Time is running out. And according to one of OceanGate’s consultants, David Concannon, there is crucial equipment for tracking, stationary “on the tarmac” of the airport on the British island of Guernsey, blocked by US bureaucracy.
“We have to move. We don’t have minutes or hours. We have to move now,” he thundered, speaking to NewsNation. “When I communicate with the US government, I get ‘out of the office’ replies. Not from everyone, of course, but from the people who are instrumental in signing and giving permission.”
The hypothesis
Meanwhile, it is pitch dark even on what might have happened. The hypotheses are the most diverse: a blackout that blew up communications, a short circuit that triggered a mini-fire on board, which could have damaged not only the operating systems (but also generated toxic fumes).
Or even the boat, pushed by the currents, got entangled in the debris of the Titanic. Certainly, if the submarine is still intact and has not imploded, those on board as well as risk running out of oxygen, those on board have certainly very cold and they will be in a state of extreme tension.
Also because they probably know that finding the submarine is only the first step: once it is identified – depending on the depth where it is – bringing it to the surface will not be taken for granted.
How to look for a mine in a minefield
It will be extremely difficult to find the submarine due to its size and the fact that it is in the middle of a debris field. “It’s like looking for a mine in a minefield‘ former submarine officer Frank Owen told the BBC. Referring to the depth of the wreck of the Titanic, Owen further warned that it was ‘well beyond’ the depth capabilities of many life saving systems.
The Titanic, from tragedy to myth
Considered unsinkable, the Titanic sank in the night between 14 and 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg: it was her maiden voyage, made on the route from Southampton (in the United Kingdom) to New York.
The tragedy, in which almost 1,500 of the over 2,200 people on board lost their lives, has always fascinated and struck the imagination, so much so that OceanGate Expeditions has begun organizing eight-day trips to see the wreck lying on the ocean floor.
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