Rob McCallum, a former consultant to OceanGate, said the Titan submersible dropped its weights in an attempt to surface before disappearing and being crushed to the bottom of the sea.
McCallum, an exploration consultant who advised OceanGate on marketing and logistics, said on July 1 that he had access to preliminary information about the final voyage of the Titan, the submersible that crashed while exploring the wreck of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean on June 18.
"The report I received immediately after the tragedy showed that the Titan dropped its weights in an attempt to surface when it reached a depth of 3,500 meters," he said. "It then lost contact with the mother ship, before being crushed by the pressure on the seabed."
The weight is an object attached to the Titan so that it can dive deep into the ocean. The people on board will release this weight when they want the ship to surface.
Titan submersible. Photo: OceanGate
According to observers, the Titan ship "dropping the weight" means that the operator tried to abort the journey and those inside seemed to know that there was an unusual problem with the ship.
McCallum is the co-founder of EYOS Expeditions, an exploration company that has led dives to the Titanic and other underwater sites. However, he uses a submersible designed to dive to depths of more than 5,900 meters, and is accredited by the DNV maritime association.
He is in regular contact with Stockton Rush, CEO and founder of OceanGate.
McCallum is the second person to claim that the Titan attempted to surface before it sank. Earlier, Titanic director James Cameron, who has extensive diving experience, said that "the maritime community believes" the Titan dropped its weight and that those on board "attempted to deal with the emergency."
How the Titan submarine disappeared. Click on the image to see details.
Titan lost contact with its mothership on June 18, after about an hour and 45 minutes of diving, while carrying five people to visit the Titanic wreck at a depth of 3,800 meters. At this depth, Titan could have been crushed so quickly that those inside would likely have died before the seawater touched them.
Authorities are investigating and it is unclear whether those on board were aware of the potential danger, or had prior warning of the hull failure. OceanGate did not respond to a request for comment following McCallum’s statement.
Hong Hanh (According to Insider )
Source link
Comment (0)