Since Sunday, June 18, the submarine Titan, which was to investigate the wreck of the Titanic, disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean with its five passengers. They only have oxygen for a few hours.
The race against time began on Sunday, June 18, after OceanGate Expeditions’ submarine Titan lost contact with the wreck of the Titanic.
In fact, according to the latest estimates from the US Coast Guard, as of 7pm Paris time this Tuesday, the ship had only 40 hours or less than two days of range. Therefore, we can estimate that the oxygen balance remaining this Wednesday morning is now about thirty hours.
Five people are on board, according to OceanGate, which built the submarine from a base in Port Everett, Washington. For now, the research “doesn’t yield any results,” Captain Jamie Frederick pointed out during a press conference in Boston.
But on Thursday, a sonar picked up underwater sounds during search operations in the North Atlantic.
According to Stephen Williams, an expert in underwater robotics at the University of Sydney, several scenarios could explain the incident, including the more “innocuous” loss of propulsion or communication. In this case, the submarine was able to raise its position to the surface and await recovery there. It may sink to the bottom, but it will be very difficult to retrieve it.
The worst case scenario would be an event that compromises the integrity of the hull. It “would be a catastrophic accident at such a depth,” he said. The company prided itself on using “off the shelf” commercially acquired equipment, where deep-sea submarines are typically built to order.
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