Titanic Missing Sub,  Hours Away From Suffocation, Billionaire Missing

news-details

London: 23 June 2023: 5 people who went to see the wreckage of the Titanic via a submersible have gone missing, including the submersible itself.

The 5 people are:

- Shahzada and Suleman Dawood: Father-and-son duo from one of Pakistan's prominent families. Their firm, Dawood Hercules Corp., based in Karachi, is involved in agriculture, petrochemicals, and telecommunication infrastructure.

- Hamish Harding: A British billionaire residing in Dubai and chairman of Action Aviation, an aircraft brokering company. Harding paid to join the expedition.

- Stockton Rush: The CEO of OceanGate, the company responsible for the submersible and the tour. Rush was the pilot of the submersible. Greg Stone, a longtime ocean scientist and friend of Rush, described him as "a real pioneer" in submersible innovation.

- Paul-Henry Nargeolet: A former French navy officer and Titanic expert. Nargeolet has made 37 dives to the wreck in the past and participated in the recovery of 5,000 artifacts.

How Long Has It Been Missing?

The submersible has been missing since Sunday morning, June 18th.

The dive was expected to last two hours, but contact with the support ship was lost after one hour and 45 minutes.

How Much Oxygen Remains?

If the submersible is still functioning, it is estimated to have around 20 hours of oxygen left.

They must be found within 12 hours or they’ll likely suffocate during the 8 hour journey back to the surface.

What's a Submersible?

It's important to understand that a submersible is not a submarine.

A submersible lacks the power to launch itself into the ocean and return autonomously, relying on a support ship for launch and recovery.

Submersibles are typically unmanned, but this case involves a manned submersible.

Possible Explanations for Why It's Been Missing:

- Titanic expedition leader G. Michael Harris believes the worst-case scenario is that the hull suffered an implosion around 3,200 meters. Harris fears that the Navy won't be able to rescue the passengers.

- Rear Admiral John Mauger, overseeing the search and rescue mission, suggests the possibility of the vessel being trapped in the Titanic itself. This has happened before, with a submersible getting stuck under a propeller in 2000, but it eventually made its way back to the surface.

- The submersible might be floating undetected in the vast waters.

- A power loss could have occurred, allowing the vessel to return to the surface and waiting for search crews to find it.

- A fire or flood on the submersible would unfortunately lead to certain death.

However, as of now, nobody can say for certain what has happened.

Poor Build Quality of the Submersible:

The submersible used for the exploration had previously received safety complaints.

An OceanGate employee had specifically complained that the sub was not capable of descending to such extreme depths before being fired.

What's even more surprising is that the entire sub is controlled using a cheap Logitech video game controller. Other off-the-shelf parts were also used in building the sub.

Not All Hope Is Lost:

On Tuesday, banging sounds were detected from beneath the water in the North Atlantic Ocean, where the Titanic wreckage is located. Sonar devices picked up the sounds every 30 minutes, continuing even after four hours with additional sonar deployment.

These sounds may be the submersible's occupants calling out for help, although it cannot be confirmed.

If the submersible is still out there and the passengers are alive, one can only imagine the ordeal they must be enduring.

My heart aches thinking of what's happening to the crew atm, especially the father and his son.

I would not wish this to my worst enemies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Share

You can share this post!