The five passengers on the submersible lost since Sunday in the North Atlantic near the wreck of the Titanic died in the “catastrophic implosion” of the small scientific tourism submarine, the US Coastguard and the expedition’s organiser announced on Thursday.
“We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding and Paul-Henri Nargeolet have sadly been lost,” the US company OceanGate Expeditions said in a statement, after four days of searches.
“The debris field” found by the search robots near the wreck, at a depth of nearly 4,000 metres, “is consistent with a catastrophic implosion” of the submersible, Rear Admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard said at a press briefing in Boston. He cited a “catastrophic loss” of pressure as the cause of the accident.
OceanGate’s American CEO, Stockton Rush, was on board the submersible, the Titan, along with wealthy British businessman Hamish Harding (58), former diver and naval serviceman Paul-Henri Nargeolet (77), and Pakistani tycoon Shahzada Dawood (48) and his son Suleman (19) — both also British nationals.
International search effort
These five men “were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure” and a “deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” OceanGate said, adding that it “mourns the loss of life.”
The US coastguard, leading an international search team, had announced by midday on Twitter that a “debris field” had been located “in the search area” by an underwater robot “near the Titanic,” the famous cruise liner that sank 111 years ago off the USA and Canada.
Rear Admiral Mauger offered his “sincere condolences” to the families of the missing.
In the UK, which lost three nationals, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly deplored the “tragic news” on Twitter and expressed his government’s “support” and “deep condolences” to the families.
Islamabad also said it was “sympathetic to international efforts to search for” the submersible and its five occupants, including a Pakistani father and son.
Ninety-six hour deadline
The resources deployed in particular by the US and Canadian military - from air surveillance using C-130 and P3 aircraft to ships equipped with underwater robots - were still arriving on Thursday morning at the site where the Polar Prince – the ship from which the small tourist submarine left on Sunday – was stationed.
Among these resources were the Atalante, a ship belonging to the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer). It is equipped with a robot, the ROV Victor 6000, capable of diving to the wreck of the Titanic.
The Titan, which is around 6.5 metres long, dived on Sunday and was due to resurface seven hours later, but contact was lost less than two hours after it left. The craft had a theoretical diving autonomy of 96 hours.
Rescuers had estimated at 11:08 GMT (13:08 Brussels time) on Thursday the time by which passengers could run out of oxygen on board the vessel.
Search area covered some 20,000 km2
Wednesday’s announcement that Canadian P-3 aircraft had detected noises underwater raised hopes and focused attention on the multinational armada of rescuers dispatched to the scene, although the origin of the noises has not been determined.
The surface search area covered some 20,000 square kilometres.
Since the search began, information implicating OceanGate has come to light about possible technical negligence with regard to the underwater tourist aircraft, and a 2018 complaint stated that an ex-director of the company, David Lochridge, had been sacked after raising serious doubts about the safety of the submersible.
Possible technical negligence
According to the former director of marine operations, a porthole at the front of the vessel was designed to withstand the pressure experienced at a depth of 1,300 metres and not 4,000 metres.
For $250.000 a seat, passengers had signed up to explore the remains of what was one of the greatest maritime disasters of the 20th century.
The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg, claiming the lives of nearly 1,500 passengers and crew.
Since the discovery of the wreck in 1985, scientists, treasure seekers and wealthy tourists have visited it, keeping the myth alive.
