The missing Titan submersible has likely run out of oxygen. Photo: OceanGate
The world has been watching as rescuers frantically search for the missing Titan submersible that went missing on a dive to the wreck of the Titanic, but as of Thursday morning, the most likely outcome is bleak. The estimated 96 hours of oxygen has officially expired.
The Titan submersible, owned and operated by OceanGate, disappeared on Sunday just under two hours into its dive. The Titan’s construction has come under considerable scrutiny after it was revealed that there were major issues with it, the strangest issue being that it was controlled by a cheap video game controller.
The inside of the submersible — it should be noted here that submarines and submersibles are different, with submersible vessels requiring a mothership for launch and retrieval — is extraordinarily narrow. At 22 feet x 9.2feet x 8.3 feet, it can carry five people. One of them is the pilot. Passengers have to sit on the floor and have very little room to move. At the front of the Titan, there’s a porthole window for viewing the deep sea, and the walls are heated to combat the extreme cold of the ocean’s depths. There is a toilet at the front, just in front of the porthole window. Should anyone need to use it, they pull a curtain and “turn the music up.”
The day after the Titan went missing, the U.S. Coast Guard released a statement estimating that the people onboard had between 70 and 96 hours of oxygen. That left search parties racing against time, but the clock has run out. It’s now likely that the rescue mission will be a recovery mission.
As of Thursday morning, rescuers have not found the sub. They have, however, found a debris field close to the Titanic. It was spotted by a remotely operated sub off a Canadian ship called the Horizon Arctic. The Titan is supposed to be able to withstand the pressure down to 4,000 meters (13,123 feet). The Titanic lies in 12,500 feet of water. If, however, the Titan did suffer a pressure-related failure, it would likely have been catastrophic. Depending on the outcome, that might have been a blessing.
The U.S. Coast Guard plans on continuing the search, although it’s likely that they’re doing so with a little less urgency. While there is still a chance that the members aboard will be rescued, with each passing hour, that chance fades.
Update: The US Coast Guard has confirmed that the debris field was from the Titan submersible. All aboard are thought to be dead.
“The debris is consistent with a catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber. Upon this determination we immediately notified the families”, said Rear Admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard, who is leading the search for Titan.
