The clock does tell the time. Unfortunately, this is the case for the five crew members of the Titan, the submersible that lost contact when it approached the remains of the Titanic, at a depth of 3,800 meters in the waters of the North Atlantic, between the United States and Canada .
As the minutes ticked down, the hope of a happy rescue decreased. The Titan had 96 hours of oxygen. Captain Jamie Frederick, of the Coast Guard in Boston, from where the operation is coordinated, pointed out on Tuesday that the margin has since been reduced to 40 or 41 hours.
Specialists calculated on Tuesday that they had between 54 and 70 hours of survival left, all told. The limit can be less, depending on the breathing rate, a factor in which having limited diving experience plays an important role. “We are focused day and night on finding the submersible, but until today all these research efforts have not yielded any results”, he stressed.
He could not even guarantee that, in case he was located soon, there would be enough time to rescue him due to the complexity of the operation. In large part due to the lack of the necessary equipment. A ship from the United States with the capacity to probe below the surface arrived in the area on Tuesday and another from Canada was expected, in addition to an increase in aircraft, which with the sound detection buoys have marked the initial research.
Frederick pointed out the difficulty of mobilizing and delivering this necessary material, since the area to be surveyed, “the size of Connecticut” (14,356 km), is 600 kilometers from the Canadian coast of Newfoundland and 1,400 from Cape Cod (Massachusetts ). Rescue boats sail at 32 kilometers per hour. “We are working against the clock and we are trying to have the equipment and the experts as soon as possible”, he indicated. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, ordered the Atalante to be sent there, a boat that has a built-in robot to go to the depths.
“Families need to be prepared for bad news,” David Marquet, a retired US Navy captain who was commander of the nuclear submarine USS Santa Fe, told NPR (US public radio). and today he is the author of bestselling books.
“A small submersible (6.7 meters), a huge ocean, very deep water, several hundred kilometers from the coast, which needs another ship for rescue. There are many challenges in this mission,” he added. Among these challenges, the occupants cannot open the submersible if it is on the surface because it lacks a gate, and it can only be done from the outside.
Since Sunday, when he was released by the supply ship Polar Prince, after an hour and 45 minutes of immersion, in what was a two and a half hour adventure to reach the , he has not returned to know nothing, they don’t even have a clue.
The trail disappeared at 9:45 a.m., but was not reported missing to the Coast Guard until 5:45 p.m. and in Canada until 9:13 p.m. This delayed the rescue and may be crucial.
One of the surprising issues is the precariousness of the ship and that its passengers accepted that it was an “experimental” artifact, piloted by “a video game controller”, which had no approval or certificate from a regulatory body and , therefore, did not have duplicate security systems. The occupants had to sign a release of responsibility from OceanGate Expeditions, the company that owns the submersible and organizer of the experience, a document that stated the absence of licenses.
Not only that, but they accepted possible “physical injury, disability, emotional trauma or death”. This document was read by Hamish Harding, a 59-year-old British billionaire and Guinness record holder, who sent some messages to the networks before disappearing. With him were the Frenchman Paul-Henry Nargeolet, who has more than 35 dives at the site of the Titanic; the rich British of Pakistani origin Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleiman. An OceanGate spokesperson confirmed that Stockton Rush, its director and founder, was the fifth passenger.
In a 2018 letter obtained by The New York Times, leaders in the submersible industry already warned Rush that his experimental approach could lead to problems. “From a minor thing to a catastrophe”, they predicted.
Tracking capability, until this second day focused on aerial vision and sounding buoys, extended below the surface and deeper. Even if the submersible is located in a remote area, at 3,000 meters, recovering it will be a difficult task, Marquet said. This is because even the best divers do not safely go below the surface more than a few hundred meters. The US Navy uses a remotely operated vehicle to reach depths of 6,000 meters. The conditions of the Titan (about 10,000 kilos), made of titanium and carbon fiber filament, the size of six cars, would make it easier to tow it to the surface.
