A tourist submarine disappeared in the North Atlantic after heading towards the wreck of the Titanic, more than 12,500 feet under the ocean and about 370 miles south of the archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Canada.
According to the U.S. Coast Guard, search efforts began Monday. A Coast Guard spokesman in Boston confirmed this information to The Guardian. According to the same source, five people were aboard the tourist submersible.
The company responsible for these trips to the bottom of the sea is Ocean Gate Expeditions, which offers a luxury service to visit the remains of the mythical ocean liner sunk in 1912. According to the company’s website, this service costs about $250,000 per passenger. The company has been offering this service for a few years, but it was initially intended for civilian scientists.
According to a source quoted by The Guardian, an individual who was to take part in the voyage, the organization informed him that this expedition would be the only one in 2023 due to the terrible winter that hit the North Atlantic this year.
The authorities gave no further information, but it is expected that they will provide some clues about what happened to the Ocean Gate Expeditions submersible in the coming hours or days.
OceanGate issues statement
The submersible company reported that it is working to bring the crew members of the missing submarine back safely and appreciated the assistance they are receiving from both government agencies and other companies.
“Our entire focus is on the wellbeing of the crew and every step possible is being taken to bring the five crew members back safely. We are deeply grateful for the urgent and extensive assistance we are receiving from multiple government agencies and deep-sea companies as we seek to reestablish contact with the submersible,” he said.
Ocean Gate also assured that it would provide updates as “they are available.”
— OceanGate Expeditions (@OceanGateExped) June 19, 2023
U.S. Congressman calls for nuclear submarine deployment
Republican U.S. House of Representatives member Brandon Williams told Fox News Digital that the U.S. Navy should deploy a nuclear submarine to help search for the submersible.
The representative who served as a nuclear submarine officer in the U.S. Navy said his heart goes out to the missing crewmen and their families.
Fears of implosion
Steve Somlyody, a research scientist with a career in the submersible industry, said he fears the vessel may have imploded.
“For there not to be any communications or any movement, indications are that something went critical,” he said, adding that the pressure at depth is very high. “If they had any kind of leak, it would lead to an implosion and it would happen in an instant, very immediately. You wouldn’t even know it happened,” he said.
Time is running out
The submarine’s life support capacity is 96 hours for five crew members, but since the vessel departed Sunday morning and it was about an hour and 45 minutes before contact was lost, only 72 hours remained for rescue.
A former French officer and a millionaire among the crew members
British aviator Hamish Harding reported on social media that he was part of the crew and mentioned former French Navy officer Paul-Henry Nargeolet in one of his posts about the trip.
