Oceangate, the company announced that people on board the Titan submersible which went missing with 5 billionaires on board while on a tour of the Titanic wreckage, are believed to be ‘sadly lost’.
The company announced this a few hours ago.
“We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding and Paul-Henri Narjolet have sadly lost their lives,” the company said in a statement.
‘These men were true explorers and shared their sense of adventure. They had a deep desire to explore and protect the world’s oceans’. “Our hearts go out to these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We mourn the loss of the life they brought to everyone who knew them.” The company announced.
The wreckage of the Titan submersible has also been found.
Diving expert David Mearns has said that it also includes parts of the outer casing of the submersible.
Debris found in the search area is believed to be from the exterior of the missing submersible.
The wreckage was located on the ocean floor about 500 meters away from the wreckage of the Titanic.
The president of the US-based Explorer’s Club, which is involved in diving teams searching for the submersible, says the wreckage found includes what is believed to be the submersible’s landing frame and its rear cover’.
The US Coast Guard previously said they had found a ‘debris field’ on the ocean floor.
It is currently being analyzed.
The wreck was discovered by a Remotely Operated Underwater Search Vehicle (ROV) near the wreck of the Titanic.
Two of the five people on board, British businessman Hamish Harding and French explorer Paul-Henry, were members of the Explorer’s Club.
The Titan went missing in a remote area of the North Atlantic on Sunday with a four-day supply of oxygen for its five passengers.
Some experts have speculated that it could undergo a catastrophic explosion as a result of its collapse. The van-sized submersible was owned by a private company called OceanGate Expeditions.
The company’s co-founder, Guillemore Sonneline, said he believed the vessel had suffered a ‘sudden explosion’.
Earlier in the week, Canadian search planes reported hearing sounds under the sea. It was unclear what the sounds were, but authorities had warned that they could not be linked to Titan.
The difference between a submarine and the Titan
The Titan is not a submarine, but a vessel that could be submerged, similar to a submarine but with a few differences. It is called submersible, not submarine.
The difference between a submarine and a submersible is that a submarine has enough power to leave a port and return to port on its own, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
But a submersible cannot travel alone like that. As it has limited submersible energy reserves, it needs to be ‘launched’ to the ocean floor from a mother ship to a desired location. And after completing the work, it will have to come back to the mothership and come back with it.
You can think of this submersible like scuba divers. Divers must go to a location in the ocean where they can explore. To return to a port, divers must return to a ship that brought them. The submersible works the same way.
According to OceanGate, Titan is 6.7 meters long, 2.8 meters wide and 2.5 meters tall. It has a total weight of 10,432 kg and a payload capacity of up to 685 kg. Under water, the vessel is capable of a maximum speed of 5.5 km/h.
