Some debris from the Titan submarine was found at the bottom of the North Atlantic on Thursday by a robotic submersible deployed from a Canadian search vessel, ending a five-day international rescue operation.
Titan submarine. Photo: Reuters
The Titan, which lost contact with its surface support vessel about an hour and 45 minutes after beginning its two-hour journey on Sunday, was found to have "exploded" on the seabed about 2 to 4 kilometers from the bow of the Titanic and at a depth of 4 kilometers.
The five dead included Stockton Rush, founder and CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, the company that operated the submarine and charged $250,000 per person to explore the Titanic wreck. Rush was also the captain of the ship.
The other victims were British billionaire Hamish Harding, 58; Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son Suleman; and French oceanographer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77.
In a statement Friday, Canada's Transportation Safety Board said it is conducting a "safety investigation related to these operations" because Titan's surface support vessel, the Polar Prince, is a Canadian-flagged ship.
Guillermo Söhnlein, who co-founded OceanGate with Rush in 2009, said Rush was “acutely aware” of the dangers of exploring the ocean depths.
“Stockton was one of the sharpest risk managers I have ever met,” said Söhnlein, who left the firm in 2013. “But he was very risk averse.”
Questions about Titan's safety were raised in 2018 at a symposium of submersible experts and in a lawsuit against OceanGate, which was settled later that year.
Before the Titan wreckage was found, teams from the United States, Canada, France and the United Kingdom spent days scouring a vast swath of ocean for the Titan. A U.S. Navy official said that while it was unclear how much the rescue effort would cost, it was likely to be insignificant.
Filmmaker James Cameron, who directed the 1997 Oscar-winning "Titanic" that helped revive global interest in the British ocean liner that sank in 1912, said he learned about the sounds detected the day after the submersible disappeared and knew what they were.
"I emailed everyone I knew and said we lost some friends. The submarine exploded," said Cameron, who also ventured to the Titanic wreck by submersible.
"We need to stop, pause and ask this question: Why would you want to board the Titanic and how do you get there safely?" said scientist and journalist Michael Guillen, who survived a 2000 expedition trapped in the wreck's propeller.
The historic Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage, killing more than 1,500 people on board. It is located approximately 900 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA, and 400 miles south of St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.
Hoang Anh (according to Reuters, CBS, CNN)
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