What does the “Titan” look like?

Dusseldorf Oceangate Expeditions offers expeditions at a depth of 4,000 meters, for research purposes or film productions, according to the company.

The submersible “Titan” started towards the world-famous “Titanic” wreck. This is about 684 kilometers away from the Canadian island of Newfoundland under water. After the start of the dive, contact with the submersible suddenly broke off. It is not yet clear what happened to the Titan.

Five occupants are on board, and their oxygen supply is running low, and with it the time the search teams have to locate the submersible. The search takes place under extremely difficult conditions. The search area is huge, the Atlantic there is thousands of meters deep, the water pressure is enormous, and there is hardly any light. Knocking noises that indicate a sign of life from the Titan crew raise hope.

Undated pictures show the boat under water during previous operations, the interior of the submersible and the destination of the journey, the Titanic wreck.

Missing Titanic submarine: what happened and what does the boat look like?

Actually, there should be contact with the Titan escort boat “Polar Prince” for seven hours. However, communication broke off one hour and 45 minutes after the start of the dive. In addition to the captain – the head of the operating company Stockton Rush (71) – the French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet (77, also known as Mr. Titanic), the British adventurer Hamish Harding (58) and the British-Pakistani management consultant Shahzada are on board Dawood (48) with his son Suleman (19). According to the operator Oceangate, the boat is actually supplied with oxygen for 96 hours. According to estimates by the authorities, the oxygen should last until Thursday noon (CEST).

>> Read also: Who is missing billionaire Hamish Harding?

Titan measures approximately 6.70 meters and weighs 10.4 tons, Oceangate states. The pressure vessel is made of carbon fiber and titanium. The boat should reach a speed of three knots.

The company offers interested passengers eight-day expeditions. The price for this is 250,000 US dollars (around 229,000 euros) per person. The boat can bring up to five occupants to a depth of 4000 meters. Titan has an advantage over other submersibles through a “combination of breakthrough engineering and commercial technology,” Oceangate says on its website.

A proprietary system is to monitor the ship’s hull in real time and, among other things, recognize the effects of pressure changes during diving.

As for the current situation, Oceangate pledges to make every possible effort to rescue the five missing. “Our overall focus is on the well-being of the crew and every possible step will be taken to bring the five crew members back safely,” the statement said. “We are deeply grateful for the urgent and comprehensive support we are receiving from multiple government agencies and deepwater companies as we attempt to reestablish contact with the submersible.”

In 2018, Oceangate employee David Lochridge warned of Titan’s security vulnerabilities. As a result, the submarine pilot and underwater inspector was fired, but he also filed a whistleblower complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the same year. According to court documents, Oceangate subsequently sued him for leaking confidential information. According to Lochridge’s complaint, the submersible has defects. For example, viewing windows should be installed that are only approved for a pressure of up to 1,300 meters, “although Oceangate planned to take passengers down to a depth of 4,000 meters”.

>> Read also: Ex-employee warned of security gaps in the submarine – search teams hear knocking noises

Submersible Titan: Still hope for signs of life

CBS reporter David Pogue, who took a ride on the boat himself last year, told the British BBC: “You control this submarine with an Xbox game controller.” Titan made an improvised impression. Part of the ballast consists of construction pipes. If the boat gets stuck or leaks, “there’s no backup, no escape pod.”

Since Sunday, search parties have been in the Canadian region of the Titanic wreck to track down the submersible. Planes and ships are used to search, and according to the US Coast Guard, underwater vehicles have also arrived. According to information from the German Press Agency, the US Navy is using a deep-sea recovery system that is to be released into the ocean on Wednesday.

Hope awakens a possible sign of life from the occupants: According to an internal memo from which the news channel CNN and the magazine “Rolling Stone” quoted, search teams heard knocking noises every 30 minutes on Tuesday in the region where the Titan is suspected. According to CNN, further noises followed on Tuesday evening, which were not described as knocking. A Canadian search plane also heard “underwater noise,” the US Coast Guard tweeted.

The US Coast Guard said on Twitter that an area of ​​around 26,000 square kilometers had already been searched. That’s bigger than Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
With agency material

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