A submmersible used to bring tourists and experts to the site of the Titanic shipwreck has gone missing somewhere in the northern Atlantic Ocean.
The U.S. Coast Guard told Motorcycle accident toronto today Monday morning they had launched an operation to find the submersible.
“We are coordinating search efforts for a submarine that lost communications yesterday while exploring the wreck of the Titanic,” said Lt. Samantha Corcoan, with the U.S. Coast Guard 1st District.
Canada’s Department of National Defence told Motorcycle accident toronto today that the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) Halifax has tasked one Royal Canadian Air Force Aurora aircraft for aerial search, and Canadian Coast Guard Vessel Kopit Hopson is also assisting with a surface search for the submersible.
OceanGate Expeditions, a private company that deploys submersibles for deep sea exploration, confirmed that the missing vessel belongs to them and that it is “exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely.”
“Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families,” said OceanGate, adding that it was “deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible.”
A photograph of the RMS Titanic moored in Southampton in April 1912 on display at ‘Titanic, Return to Cherbourg’ exhibition, at Cite de la Mer Museum in Cherbourg, western France in March 2012.
David Lefranc / abacapress.com
The company did not clarify the number of people on the missing vessel or whether any of them were paying tourists. The cost for a tourist to visit the wreck is approximately $250,000 and includes an eight-day mission to the wreckage site. Money raised during those tours goes toward furthering Titanic research.
According to The Guardian, OceanGate began taking small crews of “citizen scientists” to the Titanic shipwreck site in a five-person mini submersible two years ago.
OceanGate Expeditions recently posted on its website and social media feeds that one of its expeditions was “underway”. The eight-day, seven-night expedition was planned for June 12 to 20 and a maximum of six visitors were scheduled to depart from and return to St. John’s, Nfld.
“We started the business and it was this idea of researchers and wealthy people,” OceanGate founder Stockton Rush told The Guardian earlier this year. “Is there a way to match those people who wanted to have an adventure travel experience with researchers who need funding and a sub?”
Action Aviation confirmed that its company chairman, U.K. businessman Hamish Harding, was one of the tourists on board. The company’s managing director, Mark Butler, told the The Associated Press that the crew set out on Friday.
“Every attempt is being made for a rescue mission. There is still plenty of time to facilitate a rescue mission, there is equipment on board for survival in this event,” Butler said. “We’re all hoping and praying he comes back safe and sound.”
Jill Heinerth, a deep sea explorer not involved in the OceanGate expedition, spoke to Motorcycle accident toronto today explaining that while there are still a lot of questions about the status of the missing vessel and the people onboard, these types of submersibles are equipped with about 96 hours of life support capacity.
Jill Heinerth is one of the world’s most celebrated deep sea explorers.
intotheplanet.com
Additionally, she said, there are “many, many layers of failsafe, manual and automatic — ways of getting back to the surface. Like, they can drop the ballast that holds them underwater and simply float back to the surface.” As well, those onboard would be well trained in the safety and support of the vessel, she said.
Heinerth says the “greatest likelihood” as this point is that the vessel has simply lost communication with its above-water team. It might be taking the submersible a while to float back to the surface of the water, she said, or perhaps its “bobbing on the surface and they just need to locate it.”
OceanGate’s 2023 expedition was its third to the site of the sunken ocean liner to document its deterioration and sea life.
The expedition was scheduled to finish up at the end of June, according to a court documents filed by the company in April with a U.S. District Court in Virginia that presides over Titanic matters.
OceanGate hired the Canadian vessel Polar Prince, a medium duty icebreaker that was formerly operated by the Canadian Coast Guard, to ferry dozens of people and the submersible craft to the North Atlantic wreck site.
The 5-person submersible, named Titan, is capable of diving 4,000 metres “with a comfortable safety margin,” OceanGate said in its filing with the court.
It weighs 20,000 lbs. in the air, but is ballasted to be neutrally buoyant once it reaches the seafloor, the company said.
The Titan is made of “titanium and filament wound carbon fiber” and has proven to “withstand the enormous pressures of the deep ocean,” OceanGate stated.
OceanGate told the court that Titan’s viewport is “the largest of any deep diving submersible” and that its technology provides an “unrivaled view” of the deep ocean.
Upon its demise, the Titanic came to rest about 3,800 metres below sea level, 600 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland.
Chris Parry, a retired navy rear admiral from the U.K., told Sky News that the rescue taking place was “a very difficult operation.”
“The actual nature of the seabed is very undulating. Titanic herself lies in a trench. There’s lots of debris around. So trying to differentiate with sonar in particular and trying to target the area you want to search in with another submersible is going to be very difficult indeed.”
The Titanic, largely thought to be unsinkable at the time, hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton in the U.K. to New York on April 15, 1912. The tragedy claimed the lives of more than 1,500 people.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
— With files from The Associated Press
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