Submarine expert plays through possible scenarios: ‘Then the prognosis is not good’

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The Titan, a submarine owned by the Oceangate company, disappeared on its way to the wreckage of the Titanic – and three people with it. On board the mini-submarine: billionaire Hamish Harding (58), Stockton Rush, CEO of Oceangate and French diver Paul Henri Nargeolet. It is unclear if there were more people on board – the submarine has room for five people.

What happened on board? Was there an accident? It is still unclear whether the submarine is submerged or floating somewhere on the surface. British submarine expert Alistair Greig of University College London uses the “BBC” to run through different scenarios of what could have happened.

According to Greig, there could have been a power or communication failure. In this case, the crew may have decided to lose weight. Then “the submarine would float on the surface, waiting to be found”.

According to the Coast Guard, the weather is currently not good, but not bad either. British billionaire Harding announced before the dive that a weather window had now opened for an expedition.

The second ugly scenario the expert sketches is a leak in the submarine’s hull. Because if the submarine has sunk and can no longer independently surface, then “the prognosis is not good”.

Rescue options are very limited. The wreck of the Titanic lies at a depth of about 3800 meters. Alistair Greig: “The submarine may still be intact, but if it’s deeper than 200 metres, few ships can go that deep, let alone divers.”

Vehicles designed for submarine rescue cannot dive as deep as the Titanic. And even if they could, he doubts docking with the Titan is possible.

Titanic expert Larry Daley, on the other hand, is still confident that the crew will be found, telling Canadian broadcaster NTV: “Scuba diving is very dangerous, but technologically very advanced. And every year the equipment gets better, the technology more advanced .” (new)

Source: Blick