The failure to find the missing submarine while exploring the wreck cast doubt on the device’s safety

The US and Canadian Coast Guard continued search operations on Tuesday, June 20 Titan, A small tourist submarine goes missing in the Atlantic Ocean off North America. Titanic There are five people on board: an American, a Briton, two Pakistanis and French aquaman Paul-Henri Narcolet, a wreck specialist.

There is no attempt to find him for now “No result”The US Coast Guard announced in the evening, adding that there are still more “About 40 hours” Oxygen in a missing submarine.

The French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea (IFRAMER) diverted its ship AtlantaAn underwater robot has been deployed to the deep North Atlantic where the submarine went missing, the secretary of state for the oceans announced Tuesday.Atlanta, on a mission, is due to arrive in the area around 8pm (Newfoundland time) on Wednesday before operators are dispatched from Toulon and begin a robotic dive towards the almost four thousand meter deep wreck. The missing submarine titan, Its dive began on Sunday with a crew of five and ninety-six hours of autonomy.

A search and rescue operation has been launched

The craft operator, OceanGate Expeditions, a private company operating the submarine, authorities warned Sunday, went missing during an organized expedition to access wrecks off Canada’s coast. Titanic. “The crew Prince of Dhruva [un bateau de l’entreprise] He lost contact with them within about an hour and forty-five minutes.”, detailed Monday evening, a spokesman for the US Coast Guard. OceanGate Expeditions announced in a statement on Monday “Explore and mobilize all options” Workers must be brought safely.

The head of the US Coast Guard, Rear Admiral John Mager, explained during a press conference on Monday that three US and two Canadian aircraft had been mobilized to locate the submarine. The search for the submarine, which until now has focused on the surface of the ocean, is now underway underwater, he announced on ABC News’ “Good Morning America” ​​on Tuesday.

A Canadian P-3 also dropped sonobuoys in the area Titanic Damaged trying to record any sound Titan, which is about 6.50 meters. Rear Admiral Mager added that boats and planes searching for the submarine have now searched an area of ​​13,000 square kilometers. The search area is 1,450 kilometers off the coast of Massachusetts – and nearly four kilometers deep.

Time is now a key factor in locating submarine passengers. ” It is a remote area and conducting research in such an area is complicated.”, added John Mager. Former submarine officer Frank Owen said BBC The challenge for those on board is to stay cool and not consume too much oxygen.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby assured US President Joe Biden that the Coast Guard, an arm of the armed forces, would continue their search and could mobilize the Navy if necessary.

A study of $250,000 instead

The wreck of the Titanic, where 1,500 of its 2,200 passengers died when it hit an iceberg in 1912, lies 3,810 meters (12,500 feet) at the bottom of the Atlantic, nearly 600 kilometers off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. OceanGate Expeditions charges its clients $250,000 (230,000 euros) for a spot on its submarine and eight days to see the famous wreck.

This OceanGate expedition is the third such expedition to document the deterioration of the sunken Atlantic liner and its underwater life. The trip was scheduled to depart from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador in early May and end in late June, according to a court document the company filed in April in U.S. District Court in Virginia. Titanic.

The company uses Prince of Dhruva, an icebreaker previously operated by the Canadian Coast Guard, can carry dozens of people and is submersible. The submarine can accommodate five people, including a pilot, three paying passengers and one person. “expert”.

Who is on board?

Among the passengers is wealthy British businessman, pilot and space tourist Hamish Harding, 58, CEO of Action Aviation, confirmed on Tuesday. contactedA private jet sales company based in Dubai. “The submarine’s crew is made up of some legendary explorers, some of whom have completed more than thirty dives. Titanic Since the 1980s”wrote Hamish took to his Instagram account as Mr Saturday announcing participation in the trip.

He added that the French expert in TitanicAquanaut Paul-Henri Nargeolet was also part of the expedition, his family confirmed to BFM-TV. Originally from Haute-Savoie, now 77, this oceanographer spent the first part of his career as a naval officer. Commander of a group of clearance divers at Cherbourg (Manche, northwest of France), he later became a submarine pilot in the Undersea Intervention Group, part of the French Navy. From there he moved into maritime archeology in association with the Naval Archaeological Research Group, excavating several wrecks. In 1986, he assumed responsibility for Ifremer’s deep intervention submarines. Since 2007, he has been director of research for the RMS Titanic/Phoenix International, which owns the wreck. The former clearance diver has worked on dozens of wreck recoveries, including Air France Rio-Paris Flight AF447, which went down in Brazil in 2009.

According to the BBCThe Pakistani businessman quoted a statement from his family Shahjata Dawood48, vice chairman of the Engro Group and executive of the SETI Institute, and his son Suleman, 19, are also on board.

Finally, OceanGate Expeditions, the expedition’s organizer and its American boss, Stockton Rush, confirmed that he was on board. “Explore and mobilize all options to bring the crew to safety”.

A complaint and doubt about security

As these efforts gather pace, U.S. media on Tuesday published an old complaint from 2018, seen by Agence France-Presse, that shows David Lockridge, a former executive at OceanGate Expeditions, was fired after raising serious doubts about the submarine’s safety. .

American screenwriter Mike Reiss, producer of the acclaimed series “The Simpsons”, has already sailed three times with OceanGate Expeditions, once in 2022 on the same submarine that went missing, he told the BBC on Monday. Because of the completely confusing experience “We always lose communication and find ourselves at the mercy of the elements and that kind of stuff.”.

According to him, everyone is well aware of the dangers involved: “Before you go up, you have to sign a waiver, and death is mentioned three times on one page. It’s not a coach’s vacation, it can go wrong.”.

Without studying the craft, Alistair Craig, professor of marine engineering at University College London, raised two possible theories based on images of the device published by the press. He figures that a problem with electricity or communications could have brought him to the floating surface. “waiting to be discovered”. “Another scenario is that Hull is compromised.”And there was a leak. “Then the prognosis is not good.”, he added. And “Few ships can sail” To the depths he believes he may have sunk.

Sky News For his part, he explains that in normal times, the submarine emits a signal every fifteen minutes to show that it is safe. But the British channel understands that these signals have stopped.

CBS Correspondent David Bock, who traveled on the submarine last year, told the BBC Passengers are locked inside the main capsule, locked by bolts and unable to get out. On Twitter, he recalled being the machine “I got lost for a few hours last summer when I was on a ship.”.