Although the passengers on the submarine “Titan”, which set out with 5 people to see the wreckage of the Titanic and disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean, are considered to have run out of oxygen, search and rescue efforts continue.
Search and rescue teams from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and France are continuing their efforts to reach the submarine, despite the US Coast Guard’s calculations that “the Titan passengers may run out of oxygen at noon local time today.”
British billionaire Hamish Harding, owner of Action Aviation, which provides services in the aviation industry, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Daoud and his son Suleiman Daoud, Stockton Rush, founder and CEO of OceanGate, the company that owns the submarine, and French submarine pilot Paul Henry Nargeolet are known to be on board the missing submarine, whose ticket price is 250 thousand dollars.
The Titan, which set off with an oxygen supply of about 96 hours and was estimated to take two and a half hours to travel, lost communication with the ship “Polar Prince” 1 hour and 45 minutes after the dive. Underwater, where GPS did not work, the submarine was guided by messages from the ship on the surface.
It was stated that the ship was using the Starlink satellite internet system of Elon Musk’s company SpaceX.
It is not possible for Titan passengers to get out of the submarine without outside help
The submarine, which is around 6.4 meters long, is described by experts as “primitive” due to its lack of space, limited food stocks and insufficient technological equipment, and is not suitable for long periods of time underwater.
It was shared that the submarine was controlled by a video game controller, which is also used in some other naval vessels.
It was stated that even if the submarine surfaces on its own, the passengers will not be able to get out until help arrives as it is closed with 17 bolts from the outside.
In the statement made by the US Coast Guard, it was stated that the Canadian military search aircraft detected some sounds under the water that they thought might belong to the submarine; these sounds were heard at intervals of 30 minutes. However, it was not confirmed whether these sounds belonged to the submarine.
Canada and the US support search and rescue efforts
The Canadian Coast Guard boat “John Cabot” with marine radar arrived at the scene yesterday to participate in the search.
The US Navy is also sending a lifting system that can pull heavy submarine objects to a depth of 6,000 meters to assist in rescue efforts if the submarine is found.
“Passengers are running low on oxygen and breathing carbon dioxide”
David Marquet, a former submarine captain, told CNN that the passengers were probably thirsty, hungry and very weak.
“The water surrounding the vehicle is at freezing point and this makes the inside of the ship freezing. The submarine parts are frozen inside. Passengers are huddled together, trying to maintain their body temperature. They are running low on oxygen and breathing carbon dioxide.”
The Discovery Channel presenter stated that the submarine has “problems”
Josh Gates, the host of Discovery Channel’s “Expedition Unknown” program, made a test dive on Titan with the film crew in 2021.
In a statement to CNN yesterday, Gates said that the dive was “challenging” and that during the dive they realized that the submarine had many problems and decided not to film an episode on Titan.
The OceanGate company had been previously warned about possible dangers.
It was revealed that David Lochridge, the company’s former director of maritime operations, had written a report stating that the submarine under development needed further testing and that passengers could be in danger if the submarine reached “extreme depths”.
OceanGate fired Lochridge in 2018, accusing him of violating a confidentiality agreement.
OceanGate received another warning from the Marine Technology Community in 2018. The warning stated that it was critical for the company to subject the submarine prototype to tests supervised by an expert third party before diving to protect passengers.
The Titanic sank into the waters of the Atlantic
The luxury liner Titanic set sail from Southampton, England on April 10, 1912 with 2,224 passengers and crew on board, bound for New York.
The ship sank into the waters of the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg on April 15, 1912.
More than 1500 people lost their lives in the accident. The Carpathia ship, which arrived at the accident site a few hours later, rescued 710 people.
