Explainer: What we know about the submarine rescue, and what could have happened
Tuesday, 20 June 2023
A rescue operation is under way to save people on board a five-person submersible vessel that went missing in the Atlantic Ocean while on a mission to view the shipwreck of the Titanic.
The US Coast Guard is leading the rescue, assisted by a Canadian Coast Guard vessel and military aircraft.
The Coast Guard lost contact with the submersible one hour and 45 minutes into the dive, about 1448km off Cape Cod on Sunday morning (local time).
It was estimated the vessel had less than 70 hours of oxygen remaining as of Tuesday afternoon (NZ time), meaning the rescuers were in a race against time, with the US Coast Guard warning the search could take days.
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The submersible
The submersible vessel, named Titan, is 6.4m long (about the size of a minivan) and can hold five people.
It dives with an emergency four-day supply of oxygen. The vessel is classified as a submersible, not a submarine, because it relies on a support platform to deploy and return.
The group that runs the tour, OceanGate Expeditions, takes explorers deep into the Atlantic Ocean, where they can view the Titanic wreck through high-resolution cameras.
The tour reportedly costs about US$250,000 (NZ$403,000) per person.
According to the OceanGate website, the Titan is capable of taking five people – one pilot and four crew members – to depths of 4000m.
The Titanic expedition was successfully completed in 2021 and 2022, with the plan to run it once a year.
The Titan left St John’s, in Canada, on Friday and the team planned to start the dive at 4am local time on Sunday.
Who is on board?
Billionaire British businessman and explorer Hamish Harding, 58, has been confirmed as one of five people on board the submersible.
He wrote on social media he was joining the tour as a “mission specialist”.
After he was announced missing, his stepson Brian Szasz posted a heartfelt message on social media: “My stepdad Hamish Harding is on this submarine … Thoughts and prayers for my family.”
According to The Telegraph, Harding took part in Blue Origin’s fifth human space flight in 2022 and holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest circumnavigation of the Earth via the North and South Poles by an aircraft. He is the chairman of Action Aviation, which buys and sells aircraft.
Sky News is reporting that French submersible pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet and OceanGate CEO and founder Stockton Rush are also on board, but that hasn’t been confirmed.
What could have gone wrong
It is too early to know what went wrong with the submersible, but experts have raised some possibilities:
Power blackout: The Titan runs on batteries and a loss of power would mean loss of communications. It is unclear if power back-ups are on the Titan, according to Nine.
Fire: An electrical fire originating from a short circuit could cause a fire onboard, associate professor Eric Fusil, the director of University of Adelaide's shipbuilding hub, told Nine. If passengers have access to Built-In Breathing Systems, a kind of oxygen mask, that may help avert complete disaster.
Leak or flood: A number of experts have raised the possibility of a leak or flood. Titan has a composite hull with sensors that can withstand high pressure. If there had been a leak in the pressure hull, the prognosis is not good, Alistair Greig, a professor of marine engineering, told the Guardian.
Entangling: The wreckage of the Titanic is surrounded by debris. “There are parts of it all over the place. It’s dangerous,” said Frank Owen OAM, a retired Royal Australian Navy official, told The Guardian. A wreck, such as the Titanic, can prove difficult if the Titan got too close.
The search
The search area has been described as “remote”, making operations difficult.
Adding complexity is the fact the missing vessel may have not resurfaced, forcing the Coast Guard to use sonar to search under the sea's surface.
The US Coast Guard is working with Canadian armed forces, which have deployed to the area a C130 aircraft as well as a P8 submarine.