2023-06-21 05:13:55
June 19, 2023
updated 1 hour
image copyrightReuters
Caption,
The remains of the Titanic are 3,800 meters deep.
Planes, ships and special equipment are part of the enormous deployment that the US and Canadian coast guards are coordinating against the clock to locate a submersible used to take tourists and experts to see the remains of the Titanic that disappeared on Sunday in the Atlantic Ocean with its crew. on board.
The search and rescue operation takes place off the coast of Newfoundland.
The authorities confirmed that 5 people are on board the boat, from which contact was lost on Sunday morning, 1 hour and 45 minutes after starting the dive.
The five passengers are British millionaire and adventurer Hamish Harding; Pakistani millionaire Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman; Stockton Rush, founder and director of OceanGate; and the Frenchman Paul-Henry Nargeolet, pilot of the ship.
At a press conference, US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger stressed Monday that the main objective is to “locate and rescue” the people aboard the submersible.
The lost sub was designed with an “emergency capability” of 96 hours, Mauger explained. That margin narrows as the hours progress.
Mauger described the area being searched as “remote”, making operations difficult.
“Many times we rely on commercial operators to be the first ships to arrive on the scene,” he said, adding that the US Coast Guard is in contact with ships in the area.
He added that the search is made even more complex by the fact that the missing vessel may not have resurfaced, forcing the coast guard to use sonar to search below the surface of the sea.
“Wide assistance”
The rear admiral explained that he was not going to give details about the contacts that the authorities have with the relatives of the people on board the submersible and insisted that the main objective is to rescue them and bring them to safety.
For its part, the company that operates the missing ship said in a statement that it is “exploring and mobilizing all options” to bring the crew back.
“We are focused on the submersible crew members and their families,” OceanGate Expeditions said.
The company reported that it has received “extensive assistance” from “various government agencies and specialized deep-sea companies” in its efforts to re-establish contact with the submersible.
“We are working for the safe return of the crew members.”
What does OceanGate’s Titan submersible look like?
The Titan is a five-person submersible and capable of descending to depths of 4,000 meters Its dimensions are 670 cm x 280 cm x 250 cm It has 96-hour “life support” for a crew of five It travels at three knots, that’s about 5, 5 km per hour. In addition to taking tourists and experts to the Titanic wreck, it is used for site surveys and inspections, research and data collection, film and media production, and deep-sea hardware and software testing. It is equipped with an integrated platform from which the submersible launches and returns to before and after each dive.
How deep is the Titanic
Small submersibles occasionally carry tourists and paying experts to view the wreckage of the Titanic, which sank in 1912 and lies about 12,000 feet below the ocean’s surface and about 375 miles from Newfoundland, Canada.
OceanGate charges $250,000 per person for its eight-day expedition that leaves Canada to see the famous shipwreck.
The company’s submersible has a “life support” of 96 hours for a crew of 5.
According to the OceanGate website, the submersible has a system for real-time monitoring of pressure changes and the integrity of the ship that alerts the pilot in time for him to abort the dive and return to the surface in the event that be necessary.
CBS, the BBC’s American partner, sent one of its reporters on a trip with the same company last year.
David Pogue, who came aboard, said he read a waiver describing the submersible as an “experimental” vessel, “which has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, disability, emotional trauma, or death.” “.
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush gave him a tour of the submersible, where he revealed that the vessel has only one button and is operated with a video game controller.
British explorer and billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, wrote on Facebook that he was going to join the OceanGate expedition to the Titanic.
Harding said that because of Newfoundland’s worst winter in 40 years, “the expedition will likely be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023.”
image copyrightGetty Images
Caption,
Hamish Harding in an image from January.
Harding said they were going to attempt a dive on Sunday, after the crew left the Newfoundland city of St. John’s on Saturday.
“An opportunity has opened up and we are going to try the dive tomorrow [por el domingo]”.
He added that among the people who were to participate were “a couple of legendary explorers, some of whom have made more than 30 dives on the RMS Titanic since the 1980s.”
OceanGate Expeditions presents the voyage on its carbon fiber submersible as a “chance to step outside of everyday life and discover something truly extraordinary.”
According to the company, the submersible seats five people, which typically includes a pilot, three paying guests, and a “content expert.”
A full dive to the wreck, including descent and ascent, takes eight hours in total.
The Titanic, once the largest ship of its day, struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage from the English town of Southampton bound for New York on April 14, 1912. Of the 2,200 passengers and crew on board, more than 1,500 died.
The remains of the liner have been extensively explored since they were discovered in 1985.
They are in two parts, with the bow and stern separated by about 800 meters. A huge field of debris surrounds the two parts of the boat.
image copyrightGetty Images
Caption,
The Boston Coast Guard is assisting in the search for the submersible.
What could have happened to the lost submersible?
By Pallab Ghosh, BBC News Science Correspondent
Professor Alistair Greig, from University College London, is an expert on submersibles. The scientist proposed a series of possible scenarios regarding the emergency of the OceanGate ship.
One is that he dropped a “drop weight” after an emergency, to come up to the surface.
“If there was a power or communication failure, this could have happened, and the submersible would be floating on the surface waiting to be found,” the expert said.
Another scenario, he explains, could be that the submersible’s hull was compromised and there was a leak. “So the prognosis is not good.”
If you’ve sunk to the seabed and can’t get back up under your own power, your options, according to Professor Greig, are very limited.
“While the submersible could still be intact, if it’s deeper than 200 meters, there are very few vessels that can go that deep, and certainly not divers.
“Vehicles designed for navy submarine rescue certainly can’t get anywhere near the depth of the Titanic.
“And even if they could, I highly doubt they could attach themselves to the hatch of the tourist submersible,” Greig said.
image copyrightOceanGate
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