As Eileen Maria Marty, a professor at Florida International University, told CNN, everything could happen in milliseconds, the people inside the device didn’t even have time to realize. that there was a problem. Professor Blair Thornton of the University of Southampton compared the pressure on the bathyscaphe with the Eiffel Tower falling onto it.
At the same time, experts noted that the Titan, owned by OceanGate Expeditions, was not certified for deep diving. As Marine Technology Society chief Will Kohnen told CBC, he warned a few years ago that using the device could lead to tragedy.
As The Washington Post points out, OceanGate Expeditions founder Stockton Rush, who piloted the submersible during the ill-fated dive, was keen on innovation, arguing that industry regulations were holding back the development of the marine industry. scuba diving. In this regard, in the construction of the Titan, different technologies were used than in the creation of other underwater vehicles. For example, the bathyscaphe’s hull was made of carbon fiber, although titanium or stainless steel were commonly used. In 2018, a former OceanGate employee raised concerns about the safety of using the Titan. He demanded certification of the bathyscaphe. The legal dispute was eventually settled, with the company saying its engineers’ findings differ from the findings of a former employee.
Several people who had already dived on it up to the Titanic also spoke about the problems that had arisen in the bathyscaphe. For example, in 2021 the descent down was delayed due to electricity issues.
Scripps Institution of Oceanography Honorary Research Oceanographer Jules Jaffe, for his part, drew attention to the fact that the Titan submersible was initially in working order, having managed to make several successful dives, but that as it is used, its condition may worsen and the mechanisms wear out. Engineers know that risk builds up like a plaque and that complex technologies deployed in harsh environments such as space or deep seas can fail for many hard-to-imagine reasons, the expert noted.
“I am struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned of an iceberg ahead of him, and yet he rushed full speed into the ice field, dragging the deaths of many people, with a very similar tragedy when the warnings weren’t heard in exactly the same place,” director James Cameron told ABC News, commenting on the new tragedy.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the US Navy’s underwater equipment, with which they track submarines of other countries, soon the field of the start of the Titan’s dive recorded an anomaly – a sound that could be a blast. According to experts, this happened in the area where the wreckage of the underwater vehicle was later discovered. At first, the military could not say for sure what exactly was causing the recorded sound. It is currently assumed that it was an implosion, an inward explosion, that is to say that the bathyscaphe was crushed by the pressure of the water.
Recall that communication with the Titanic apparatus, which was used to transport tourists to the site of the sinking of the Titanic, disappeared on June 18, 1h45 after the start of the dive. Last Thursday, an unmanned underwater vehicle launched from the ship Horizon Arctic discovered the Titan’s tail pinned 480 meters from the Titanic on the seabed. Then other fragments of the bathyscaphe were found. According to US Coast Guard spokesman Rear Admiral John Mauger, the wreckage “indicates the catastrophic loss of the passenger capsule.” He acknowledged that authorities could not say what the chances of finding the bodies of the passengers were. “We will continue to work and explore the area down there,” he said.
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p class=””>On board the Titan were the managing director of OceanGate Expeditions, Stockton Rush, 61, who operated the submersible, the former commander of the French fleet, Paul-Henri Narjolet, 77, the British businessman from 58-year-old and adventurer Hamish Hardin, 48-year-old Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleiman. All were declared dead. According to Mauger, this happened before search and rescue operations even began.
He drew attention to the fact that experts and professionals had many questions related to the tragedy, questions about rules and standards. The fact is that OceanGate Expeditions worked in a “grey area”. The diving took place in international waters, outside the jurisdiction of any country, and it did not require a permit or special pilot license.
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