The last hours of hope for the missing submarine, but there is no trace

Hopes have now faded to a flicker in the increasingly frantic search for the missing submarine on Sunday after a dive towards the wreck of the Titanic. However, the hours of oxygen available to five VIP passengers are decreasing more and more, and the reserve will remain available until 11 today, while the debate about the safety of the experimental hull is growing.

The submarine noise was picked up on Tuesday but also yesterday morning by a Canadian Lockheed P3 Orion aircraft with underwater monitoring equipment. According to some US media, which cite internal communications from the US government, this will be the case Bombing sounds every 30 minutes. The ocean is full of sounds, but the report notes that the “blowout” detected is regular, and thus could have been caused by a human source.

Among the passengers on the Titan submarine is a former French diver, Paul-Henri Nargolet, who should know Team alert protocol: It makes a three-minute noise every half hour. Admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard, who is directing the research, reported that according to experts and equipment, the captured noise was “likely produced” by the hull’s occupants, but there is no confirmation of its nature.

Relief Coordinator Captain Jamie Frederick’s admonition was “we must remain hopeful”. It should be remembered that in previous submarine rescue attempts this noise was found to be ‘false’, notably in 2017 with the Argentine submarine Ara San Juan: subsequent analysis of the sound confirmed that it was a natural source. So while hopes have risen slightly for a miracle, many uncertainties and challenges remain. It doesn’t last race against time According to Mauger, passengers only get oxygen until five o’clock local time on Thursday (11 today in Italy), even if there are some variables involved, including the rate of consumption per passenger: the less we talk and the less we move, the less it burns. . The detection of sounds triggered ROVs, underwater remotely piloted vehicles, to move in the area, then submerge them in search of Titan using sonar and video cameras.

So far, 25,900 square kilometers of ocean have been surveyed, an area the size of Massachusetts or Lebanon. And since Wednesday, the French ship Atlante, equipped with a robot submarine, Victor 6000, is also present. If the Titan can be located in the abyss, then it remains to recover it. Huge logistical challenge. And it would be much more dangerous if it had run aground on the remains of the Titanic. In any case, special equipment would be required because of the enormous pressure and complete darkness at a depth of 3,800 metres.

the five passengers They are British millionaire Hamish Harding (58), Pakistani businessman Shahzada Daoud (48) with his son Suleiman (19), French explorer and submarine pilot Paul-Henri Nargolet (77) and Stockton Rush (61) sponsor of the submarine OceanGate, the company that owns the Titan.

Meanwhile, the revelation is on Concerns that have arisen in the past about the tightness of the structure Carbon and titanium. David Lochridge, OceanGate’s former director of marine operations, raised her before he was fired in 2018. As did another former employee who remained protected with anonymity, who chose to resign in 2017 when Rush overruled his objections. Even industry leaders, in the same period, warned the CEO of OceanGate about the dangers of “catastrophic” problems for his “experimental approach.”

CNN also revealed that the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory denied participating in the submarine’s testing and design, contrary to what OceanGate claimed. In the end, the company chose not to grade its Titan by an independent industry group, citing the innovative design’s long approval times and the fact that the process would ensure reliability to building standards but not against errors in operations. which is why. Of the majority of marine and aviation accidents.

Titan, capable of descending up to 4,000 meters below sea level, actually has a meticulously designed maximum capacity of five passengers. Visitors are willing to pay a very expensive ticket to be lowered into the abyss for more than a week and see with their own eyes the seabed where the remains of what was once the most famous ship in the world lie at a depth of about 3800 meters: the remains were identified in 1985 after decades of frantic exploration.

The adventure, which is operated by OceanGate Expeditions, involves an eight-day mission, at a cost of – far beyond the reach of humans – $250,000 per person. The price of an experience to be lived in contact with the darkness of the ocean trenches, but above all with the past ghosts of the story of the cursed ocean, which has remained linked to the collective memory of entire generations thanks to successful books, songs or films (initially it was a blockbuster with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet directed by James Cameron Winner of 11 Academy Awards in 1997).

Lost submarine tourist visits Titanic promotional video

Designed in 1908, launched in 1911 from Belfast shipyard for the White Star Line at a total cost of £1.5m at the time (about £200m today) and registered at the Port of Liverpool, Titanic sank with over 1,500 of her Approximately 2,200 passengers—despite the ship’s advertising notoriety as “unsinkable”—on the night of April 15, 1912, after striking an iceberg on her first crossing between Southampton, England, and America. It disappears among the ocean waves, 370 nautical miles (600 km) from the Canadian coast of Newfoundland, without being able to land at the port of destination in New York. Conclusion The ‘overpriced’ adventure tourist has not been discouraged by talk of a defiance of destiny in danger of now ironically revealing itself. While the organizing company can only rely on the rescue teams’ research, it is limited to ensuring – in a message full of growing concern – “thoughts and prayers” for its clients and their families.