Undated image courtesy of OceanGate Expeditions, shows their Titan submersible launching from a platform. Photo: AFP/OceanGate Expeditions handout
Hollywood director James Cameron – who directed the blockbuster Titanic in 1997 – expressed his deep sorrow after the Titanic sub was found on Thursday.
Cameron, who was on the mothership on Sunday when the submersible went missing, said he felt the loss “in [his] bones”.
Cameroon said he immediately alerted “some of [his contacts in the deep submersible community”, and a rescue was ready to descent within an hour.
“They were at 3 500 metres, heading for the bottom at 3 800 metres. Their comms were lost, and navigation was lost.
“I said instantly, you can’t lose comms and navigation together without an extreme catastrophic event or highly energetic catastrophic event.
“And the first thing that popped to mind was an implosion.”
The US Coast Guard confirmed that the Titanic sub suffered a “catastrophic implosion”, killing all five people on board.
This after an extensive multi-national search-and-rescue mission had the world sitting on the edge of our collective seat for the past four days.
According to Rear Admiral John Mauger, an analysis of the debris spotted on the ocean floor indicated a pressure chamber implosion in the submersible.
He said the debris was found by an underwater robot on Thursday, some 487 metres from the bow of the Titanic wreck.
Mauger said the submarine’s tail cone and the pressure hull’s front and back ends were found in the debris field.
Meanwhile, the US Navy updated the public, saying it had detected an “anomaly” soon after the submerisble went missing.
The anomaly was likely the Titan’s implosion, and that corresponds with director Cameron hearing a “loud bang” after communication was lost.
The navy analysed its acoustic and said the data was “consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general vicinity” of where the debris was found.
Marine scientist David Mearns said the recently discovered debris implies a rapid breakup of the Titanic sub, which would have been immediate and undetectable to the crew.
He said the cause of the implosion could not be determined as yet, and due to the unforgiving nature of the ocean depths, the deceased’s remains may not be recovered either.
While personnel and vessels on land undergo a demobilisation process before their descent, unmanned robots will continue to search the seabed.
Meanwhile, OceanGate said the men on the sub “were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans”.
The Titan disappeared on Sunday while descending towards the Titanic wreck, situated approximately 3.2 kilometres below the surface, and 640 kilometres off the Newfoundland coast in Canada.
The submersible would have resurfaced seven hours after its descent, but communication was lost approximately two hours into their mission.
British explorer Hamish Harding, French submarine specialist Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani-British magnate Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, and Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate Expeditions were on the submersible when it imploded.
On behalf of the United States Coast Guard, Mauger offered his deepest condolences to the families.
In addition, the governments of both Britain and Pakistan extended their condolences to the families.
Speaking to BBC, Cameron said: “I felt in my bones what had happened. For the sub’s electronics to fail and its communication system to fail, and its tracking transponder to fail simultaneously…
He said it meant only one thing: “The sub’s gone”.
READ: Rich people problems: why netizens dragged the Titanic tourist submersible mission
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