“Titan” submarine: the American investigation carried out with Canada, France and the United Kingdom

2023-06-26 01:35:04

Will we know one day when the “Titan” submarine, with its five passengers on board, imploded? The US Coast Guard announced on Sunday the opening of an investigation to determine the circumstances of the tragedy, while the submersible was to descend as close as possible to the wreck of the “Titanic”, in the North Atlantic. The authorities are currently trying to “map” the site of the accident.

This investigation, said the US Coast Guard, is not done alone: ​​they have the support of the National Transportation Safety Board of the United States, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, the Bureau of Investigations on sea events in France (BEAmer) and its British counterpart. Evidence is collected in the port of St. John’s, Newfoundland, in coordination with Canadian authorities, who had already announced the opening of an investigation.

The small submersible disappeared from radar on June 18 as it descended into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, where the wreckage of the famous ocean liner lies, with five passengers on board, including French aquanaut Paul Henri Nargeolet. The fate of the missing kept the world in suspense for several days and significant rescue resources were deployed to find their trace. On Thursday, an underwater exploration robot finally found the wreckage of the “Titan” and US authorities concluded that it had imploded during its descent.

“A merciless environment”

After the sad discovery, the US Coast Guard announced that the search would continue to find out more details about the incident. “The bottom of the ocean is a merciless environment,” said the chief of the American coast guard John Mauger.

The Americans weren’t the only ones investigating the disaster area. The Canadian Coast Guard announced on Saturday that it had begun the investigations, entrusted to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB). Such an investigation usually takes between 18 and 24 months, but the BST will try “to go faster, because we know that everyone wants answers, especially the families”, indicated the body in charge of the investigations into the air, rail and marine accidents. A second, separate investigation was opened by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

After the tragedy, many critics targeted the OceanGate company which organized this expedition. The quality of the submersible has been called into question in particular because of the broadcast of a report revealing the basic materials that make it up.