Time running out for missing Titanic tourist sub

Rescuers searched a vast swath of the North Atlantic for a third day on Tuesday, racing against time to find a missing tourist submarine that vanished while taking wealthy passengers on a voyage to the wreck of the Titanic in deep waters off Canada’s coast.

The 21ft submersible Titan is built to stay underwater for 96 hours, according to its specifications — giving the five people aboard until Thursday morning before air runs out. One pilot and four passengers were inside the miniature sub early on Sunday when it lost communication with a parent ship on the surface about an hour and 45 minutes into its two-hour dive.

As Canadian and US authorities stepped up the search, previous questions about the safety design and development of the submersible by its owner, US-based OceanGate Expeditions, came to light.

The wreck of the Titanic, which struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912, lies about 1,450km east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and 644km south of St John’s, Newfoundland.

US and Canadian aircraft have searched nearly 19,700km² of open sea, US Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday.

The Canadian military has dropped sonar buoys to listen for any sounds that might come from the Titan, and a commercial vessel with a remote-controlled deepwater submersible was also searching near the site, Frederick said.

Separately, a French research ship carrying its own autonomous deep-sea diving vessel was dispatched to the search area at the request of the US Navy and was expected to arrive Wednesday night local time, the Ifremer research institute said.

Those aboard Titan for a tourist expedition that costs $250,000 per person included British billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, and Pakistani-born businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, with his 19-year-old son Suleman, both British citizens.

French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, and Stockton Rush, founder and CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, were also reported to be on board. Authorities have not confirmed the identity of any passenger.

Rescuers face significant obstacles both in finding the Titan and in saving the people aboard, according to experts.

If the submersible experienced a mid-dive emergency, the pilot would likely have released weights to float back to the surface, according to Alistair Greig, a marine engineering professor at University College London. But absent communication, locating a van-sized submersible in the vast Atlantic could prove challenging, he said.

The submersible is sealed with bolts from the outside, preventing the occupants from escaping without assistance even if it surfaces.

If the Titan is on the ocean floor, a rescue effort would be even more challenging due to the extreme conditions beneath the surface. The Titanic lies 3,810m underwater, where no sunlight penetrates. Only specialised equipment can reach such depths without being crushed by the massive water pressure.

Safety issues

The ability of the tourist sub’s hull design to withstand such depths was questioned in a 2018 lawsuit filed by OceanGate's former director of marine operations, David Lochridge, who said he was fired after he raised safety concerns about the vessel.

OceanGate said in its breach-of-contract suit against Lochridge, who is not an engineer, that he refused to accept the lead engineer’s assurances and accused him of improperly sharing confidential information. The two sides settled their court case in November 2018.

Neither the company nor its lawyer, Thomas Gilman, immediately responded to requests from comment from Reuters. An attorney for Lochridge declined to comment.

Several months before the suit was filed, a group of submersible industry leaders wrote a letter to OceanGate warning that the “experimental approach” to the sub’s development could result in “minor to catastrophic” problems, The New York Times reported.

OceanGate schedules five weeklong “missions” to the Titanic each summer, according to its website.

Harding, a UAE-based businessman and adventurer who is chair of Action Aviation, posted a message on Facebook on Saturday, saying: “This mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023.”