Titanic submarine: Desperate search for craft missing with five onboard
This image provided by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution shows the deck of Titanic 12,500 feet below the surface of the ocean, 400 miles (640 kilometers) off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada in 1986. File picture: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution via AP
Search and rescue teams were racing against time on Monday to find a tourist submarine with prominent maritime experts and explorers believed to be onboard that went missing in the North Atlantic while on a dive to the wreck of the Titanic.
Fears were rising about the fate of the vessel as military and coast guard aircraft stepped up efforts later on Monday.
The submersible was reported overdue, according to the US Coast Guard on Monday, which later tweeted that contact was lost with the sub just 1 hour 45 minutes into its dive on Sunday afternoon.
Rory Golden, the first Irishman to dive to the Titanic wreck, has taken to social media to assure people of his safety.
On June 10, Mr Golden had posted on Facebook that he was on a Titanic expedition with OceanGate Expeditions.
This evening, he posted again to say that he is safe and asked people not to speculate on the fate of the submarine and those on board.
"We have a situation that is now the part of a major search and rescue effort, being undertaken by major agencies. That is where our focus is right now," he wrote.
"Our online and internet options are being restricted in order to keep bandwidth available for the co-ordinated effort that is taking place, so please bear that in mind too."
Mr Golden asked people to think positive because "we are".
A spokesman for the Boston coast guard confirmed to on Monday morning that “a small submarine with five persons onboard had gone missing in the vicinity of the Titanic wreck”.
The craft is the Titan, a deep diving submersible operated by underwater tourism company Oceangate. News of the sub’s disappearance was first reported by the .
Rear Admiral John Mauger, first district commander of the US Coast Guard, overseeing the search-and-rescue operation, told a press conference late on Monday afternoon that “we are doing everything we can do” to find the sub and its occupants.
Both US and Canadian aircraft were being used to search the “remote” area, as well as large ships, but the hunt was “complex” because crews do not know if the vessel has surfaced, meaning they must scour both the surface and the ocean depths of nearly 13,000 feet, he said.
The submersible is believed to have life support capabilities lasting four days, although specifics remain unclear.
“We’re making the best use of every moment of that time. What we’re focused on is finding those five people,” Mauger said.
Despite the wreck of the Titanic resting south-east of the coast of Newfoundland, Canadian authorities told the search efforts were under the jurisdiction of the US Coast Guard’s Boston fleet.
OceanGate Expeditions, the company that offers the visits to the wreck, which lies on the ocean floor in 12,500 feet of water about 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, has been running expeditions since 2021.
One of those believed to be on board is Paul Henry Nargeolet, a former French navy commander, a deep diver and a submersible pilot.
As director of underwater research for E/M Group and RMS Titanic, Inc, he is widely considered the leading authority on the wreck site and it is possible he was in charge of the submersible on the dive, with four passengers alongside.
Nargeolet has led several expeditions to the Titanic site and supervised the recovery of 5,000 artifacts, including the recovery of the “big piece” a 20-ton section of Titanic’s hull.
People began offering up prayers for those missing on Monday.
The submersible was launched on Sunday morning from the vessel Polar Prince. The Mi’kmaq chief Mi’sel Joe, head of the Indigenous group that owns the Polar Prince, told that another submersible was being flown in from the US to aid in the search.
The RMS Titanic, a British passenger liner which had been marketed as “unsinkable”, sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912, on a route from Britain to the US after being holed by an iceberg.
The lives of 1,514 of the 2,224 passengers and crew were lost and the Titanic became perhaps the most famous civilian shipwreck of all time, although the wreck itself was not found until the 1980s.
OceanGate started taking small crews of “citizen scientists” in a five-person mini sub two years ago and a ticket now costs $250,000.
According to the company’s website, Oceangate had a planned eight-day, seven-night expedition to the wreck planned for 12-20 June. A maximum of six visitors were scheduled to depart and return to St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.
A British businessman, Hamish Harding, a well-known aviator as well as an explorer and one of the tiny group of tourists who have already been to space, who is normally based in the United Arab Emirates, was booked on the current trip.
Harding is married and Brian Szasz, a stepson, posted on Facebook about “thoughts and prayers” as “his submarine has gone missing” and then later deleted the post.
RMS TITANIC EXPEDITION
— Hamish Harding (@ActionAviation0) June 17, 2023
I am proud to finally announce that I joined @OceanGateExped for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic.@ExplorersClub @actionaviation @One_More_Orbit #PolarPrince
Full story at:https://t.co/7UWUrKGyTQ
Harding, 58, posted on Instagram on Saturday that: “Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023.
"A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow. We started steaming from St Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, yesterday and are planning to start dive operations around 4am tomorrow morning.”
In a previous post he described himself as “a mission specialist” on the trip.
A US Titanic enthusiast, William Oakes, wrote on Facebook that people should pray “right now.”
“Please pray. I have friends and acquaintances that are a part of this mission,” he posted.
A statement on the company’s website on Monday read: “Our entire focus is on the crew members in the submersible and their families.
"We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to re-establish contact with the submersible.”
The Newfoundland and Labrador premier, Andrew Furey, tweeted that he hoped the US Coast Guard would find the vessel “very soon” amid growing concern.
“Newfoundland and Labrador has a long-standing connection with the wreck of the Titanic, with tourists departing our harbour to visit the site off our shores,” he wrote.
Thinking of all those affected, as we hope the U.S. Coast Guard successfully locates the sub and those on it very soon. Newfoundland and Labrador has a long-standing connection with the wreck of the Titanic, with tourists departing our harbour to visit the site off our shores. https://t.co/Xw5A3rQ5dz
— Andrew Furey (@FureyAndrew) June 19, 2023
Since 2021, the Bahamas-based OceanGate Expeditions has ferried about 60 paying customers and 15-20 researchers to the site.
“We started the business and it was this idea of researchers and wealthy people,” OceanGate founder Stockton Rush told the Guardian earlier this year.
“Is there a way to match those people who wanted to have an adventure travel experience with researchers who need funding and a sub?”
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