Experts believe that the Titan submersible may have experienced technical problems or hull damage leading to its disappearance while visiting the Titanic wreck.
The US Coast Guard announced on June 19 that it was deploying resources to search for the Titan submersible that went missing while visiting the wreck of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean. The Titan, believed to be carrying five people, began diving on the morning of June 18 and lost contact after about 1 hour and 45 minutes.
OceanGate Expeditions, the company that operates and provides tours of the Titanic wreck, said they are doing everything they can to bring the group back safely. Canada has also deployed ships and planes to the area to assist in the search, but so far no trace of the Titan has been found.
Experts have put forward many theories about the reason why Titan disappeared, from it being entangled in Titanic debris, losing power to having problems with its communication system.
Illustration of the Titanic wreck tour by the submersible Titan. Photo: OceanGate Expeditions
The Titanic wreck lies at a depth of about 3,800 m on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by a series of debris left from the tragic shipwreck that occurred more than a century ago.
"There's debris everywhere. It's very dangerous," said Frank Owen, a former Royal Australian Navy officer who directs a submarine escape and rescue project.
According to Owen, the fact that the submersible lost contact 1 hour and 45 minutes after departure suggests that Titan may have been very close to or reached the ocean floor. Titan has a maximum speed of more than 5 km/h and decreases as it dives deeper.
Rear Admiral Chris Parry, a former British naval commander, fears the submersible may have run into trouble while approaching a piece of Titanic wreckage. "If the Titan is trapped in a part of the Titanic, that would be a very worrying scenario because it's so deep," he said. "The only hope is that the mother ship has a backup vehicle nearby that can dive down immediately to see what's going on."
Titan is equipped with weights that help the ship to submerge more easily. In case it gets caught in Titanic debris, loses power or its communication system fails, Titan can drop these weights to gain enough buoyancy to rise to the surface. In addition, Titan also has many devices to send distress signals while at sea.
However, search forces have not yet received any distress signals from Titan, leading experts to hypothesize that the ship's hull was damaged, causing water to flood into the compartment.
“If Titan sinks to the bottom of the sea and cannot resurface on its own, the options are very limited,” said Alistair Greig, professor of marine engineering at UCL, UK. “The submersible may still be intact, but if it is out on the continental shelf, there are very few vehicles that can reach that depth and certainly no divers.”
Rear Admiral Parry said an underwater rescue operation at such depths "would be extremely difficult".
US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger speaks at a press conference on June 19 in Boston, Massachusetts. Photo: AP
David Concannon, an advisor to OceanGate Expeditions, said the submersible had a 96-hour supply of oxygen, starting at 6 a.m. on June 18. Theoretically, Titan should have enough oxygen until the morning of June 21, but that time frame could be affected by the breathing patterns of those on board, especially if there are passengers with little diving experience who are prone to gasping for air due to panic.
Concannon said officials were trying to get a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that can dive to depths of 6,000 meters to the search area as quickly as possible.
ROVs are typically launched from surface ships, with a cable connection that allows the operator to actively navigate and receive images and sonar data from the vehicle in real time. However, with so much Titanic debris, the search team will need time to determine whether the displayed object is debris or the Titan.
David Pogue, a CBS News correspondent who was on Titan in 2022, said there is currently "no way" to communicate with the submersible, as neither GPS nor radio signals work underwater.
“When the surface ship was directly above the submersible, they could exchange short messages. But now they were no longer receiving any response,” Pogue said. In addition, Pogue said the submersible was locked from the outside. “There was no way for the people inside to escape without assistance from outside, even if the submersible surfaced.”
Speaking at a press conference on the evening of June 19 (morning of June 20, Hanoi time), Rear Admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard estimated that the amount of oxygen on Titan "has about 70 hours or more left".
"We are making the most of every moment, focusing on finding the five missing people," Mr. Mauger said.
The location of the Titanic wreck in the Atlantic Ocean. Graphic: Guardian
Nhu Tam (According to Guardian, BBC )
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