DIRECT. The search continues this Wednesday, June 21 in the North Atlantic Ocean to try to find the submarine which disappeared near the Titanic. Metallic sounds keep hope alive.
While a real race against time is currently being played out across the Atlantic, Captain Jamie Frederick gave a press conference in Boston on Tuesday evening, June 20. If an area of ??7,600 square miles (about 19,700 km²), the equivalent of Connecticut, has already been searched since Sunday, the submersible remains untraceable at this stage. Search parties are on deck, working around the clock to find the submarine and especially its five passengers trapped inside, the submersible being locked from the outside and only able to be unlocked by someone outside of it. inside. The noises identified could now be decisive.
Captain Jamie Frederick, however, welcomed the arrival of a remotely operated ROV with an onboard camera at the last known location where the missing submarine passed. In the event of the discovery of the submarine, Captain Jamie Frederick assured that everything would be done to be able to carry out a rescue.
Time is running out for the research teams. The tourist submarine had time to sink to nearly 4,000 meters deep in the Atlantic Ocean before no longer appearing on radar. Needless to say, at such depth under the sea the environment is hostile with the pressure, the absence of oxygen and the total blackness of the abyss. “There’s no escape pod. If you got out of the water at those depths, you’d be crushed, so they’re totally dependent on finding the submersible,” adds specialist Simon Boxall.
But the submarine’s cockpit won’t be able to serve as a refuge indefinitely. For their exploration, the passengers left with a supply of oxygen and if, on Monday evening, the rescue teams estimated that the submersible could be self-sufficient in oxygen for another 70 hours, on Tuesday evening.
Not only about the lack of oxygen, you also have to worry about the condition of the submarine. Problem, all communications being cut, it is impossible to know if the device encounters technical or electrical problems which could jeopardize the survival of the passengers.
Two scenarios are considered by Alistair Greig, professor of marine engineering at University College London, to AFP. From the images of the submarine, the professor imagines that in the event of an electrical or communication problem the submersible could have risen to the surface and could float “waiting to be found”. Specialist Simon Boxall disagrees and considers it unlikely that the Titan has surfaced. The man also does not believe that the submersible was trapped in the wreckage. According to Alistair Greig’s second hypothesis, the less reassuring, the ship could have suffered a leak or had its hull damaged, “then the prognosis is not good”.
The OceanGate Expeditions submarine was set to sail for the sunken wreck of the Titanic in 1912 after colliding with an iceberg. But the submersible disappeared before reaching its destination, 1,448 km off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts (900 miles) and at a depth of 4,000 meters (13,000 feet).
The area where the submarine should be and where rescue operations are concentrated is “isolated, it [is] difficult to carry out searches there […] We are deploying all available means to locate the boat and rescue those on board,” said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger.
Significant resources were deployed to find the submersible: two military aircraft are monitoring the surface of the water, an American C-130 and a Canadian P8, and a submarine, sonobuoys and a remotely operated vehicle ROV have was launched to sound the depths. The sonars make it possible to capture any activity up to 3,950 meters deep. This more or less corresponds to the distance the wreck of the Titanic lies and the distance the submarine had to go. The Horizon Arctic vessel “designed and equipped for advanced offshore support operations” is also taking part in the search, Horizon Maritime said.
Despite the means deployed, the submersible descended to a depth where “very few ships can go” according to Alistair Greig. The U.S. Coast Guard added at a press conference that the search is taking place over a difficult area with “low” fog-related visibility, but in “fairly normal” sea conditions.
They are five to have taken place in the Titan submarine to go to the wreck of the Titanic. Among them, two seasoned adventurers including the French aquanaut Paul-Henry Nargeolet, one of the greatest experts of the British liner in the world. The septuagenarian had already dived more than 35 times near the famous wreck and was systematically aware of the risks as a former Navy officer and diving professional. “He is a very good connoisseur of this underwater perimeter. He is capable of anything. Including resurfacing”, assured his press officer Mathieu Johann to the Parisian.
The second explorer aboard the Titan submarine is 58-year-old British businessman Hamish Harding. The president of the international company Action Aviation was part of Blue Origin’s fifth commercial flight, becoming one of the first space tourists. The man had shared his participation in marine exploration near the Titanic on social networks.
The founder of OceanGate, the company organizing the expedition aboard the submarine, Stockton Rush, is also on board the submersible, according to information from Sky News. The other two people who complete the tourist crew of the Titan are Shahzada Dawood, a prominent and wealthy Pakistani businessman, and his son Suleman. The businessman is vice-president of Engro, a conglomerate which invests in energy, agriculture, petrochemicals and telecommunications, specifies Le Parisien.
These five passengers boarded the Titan submarine for an estimated 10-day expedition, including 8 at sea, according to the website of the private company OceanGate Expeditions. The submersible normally needs a driver, a guide, and up to three civilian passengers who would each pay $250,000 to participate in the expedition.
