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On the morning of Sunday, June 18, the Titan submersible went missing with five people on board, only 1 hour and 45 minutes into its dive. The submersible, which was owned by OceanGate, was on its way to the Titanic wreckage site to document first-hand the historical ocean liner’s route and timeline. It commenced its journey from St. John’s in Newfoundland, which is 435 miles south of the Titanic ruins that lie in the North Atlantic Ocean.
The five people who disappeared with the submersible were OceanGate’s CEO and founder and pilot for the mission Stockton Rush, French submersible specialist Paul-Henri Nargeolet as the content expert, and three tourists who each paid 250,000 dollars for the expedition. They were British billionaire businessman and explorer Hamish Harding and the father-son duo Shahzada and Sulaiman Dawood of Pakistan’s famous business family.
After five days of extensive search and rescue operations across the North Atlantic, on June 22, it was confirmed that the submersible encountered a “catastrophic implosion” and got destroyed during its descent, while all people on board had succumbed.
From Hamish Harding’s Instagram post to the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber: Tracing the timeline of the submersible
Hamish Harding shared his excitement on Instagram on June 17
On the night of June 17, Hamish Harding took to Instagram to share his excitement about his upcoming expedition to the Titanic wreckage aboard the Titan sub. His post read as follows:
“I am proud to finally announce that I joined OceanGate Expeditions for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic.”
Besides, he had clarified who all were with him and how they had set sail from St. John’s in Newfoundland on Friday aboard the Canadian mother ship Polar Prince.
On June 18, Titan submersible dives as per the schedule
The Canadian vessel Polar Prince carried the submersible and the five people almost 900 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Around 8 am on Sunday, June 18, the 22-foot-long underwater vessel with the explorers descended into the ocean, as reported by the US Coast Guard.
After 105 minutes, the Titan lost all communication with its mother ship and stopped pinging every 15 minutes as it was meant to do to determine its location. According to The Times, it was a few minutes before 10 am that the final signal came.
To reach the Titanic ruin site at 4000 meters, the sub typically took around two hours. No signal came confirming about reaching its destination. In fact, it was supposed to resurface at 3 pm. When it failed to do so, at 5:40 pm, all parties involved issued an alarm, and the news of the Titan missing became official.
At first, the Polar Prince crew conducted a search. When they couldn’t locate the vessel, they asked for Coast Guard’s help. On Sunday itself, the US and Canadian Coast Guards, Air National Guard Aircraft, Polar Prince, and OceanGate collaborated to search 7600 miles in the open sea.
The news of the missing submersible became viral on June 19
On Monday morning, i.e., June 19, the US Coast Guard announced the disappearance of the Titan to the world, followed by OceanGate Expeditions. They also confirmed that a widespread search and rescue operation was being conducted.
In the afternoon, P8 Poseidon aircraft with underwater sonar capabilities were deployed by the Canadian Coast Guard. It was remotely operated and was thought to be a key asset of the mission. US Coast Guard too launched C-130 Hercules reconnaissance aircraft to look for the Titan.
A submersible craft, including the US Navy Curv-21 that can reach a depth of 4000 meters, also joined the search. All parties involved continued to expand their search throughout the day. It was also declared that only 96 hours of emergency oxygen supply was available for the five people on board.
On June 20, OceanGate officially confirmed that their CEO was missing
OceanGate, the company owning the Titan submersible confirmed that along with their vessel, their CEO and founder Stockton Rush was “aboard the submersible as a member of the crew,” further adding to the anticipation and speculation. While more aircraft and submersibles were deployed, none yielded any result until the afternoon of Tuesday, June 20.
It was also reported that around 40 hours of oxygen was left on the submersible and that the search operations were both surface-based as well as used sight and radar at a subsurface level.
At the end of Tuesday, a flicker of hope came when a Canadian aircraft reported hearing “banging” noises almost every 30 minutes from the area where the sub was last located.
Remote Operative Vehicles were deployed to further trace the location of the sounds on June 21
To determine the location of the “banging” noises, which were first heard every 30 minutes, additional sonar was deployed a few hours later on Wednesday, June 21. In fact, a Remote Operating Vehicle or ROV was launched to locate the origin of the noises. Experts concluded that the sounds were likely signs of life being detected at the site.
Authorities even assured the public and the families of those missing that they were doing everything possible. Moreover, they deployed more advanced technology to intensify the search and rescue mission.
It was also reported that less than 24 hours of oxygen was left onboard and even if the submersible was found, the chance of finding the crew alive was getting thinner with time. The Royal Canadian Navy even deployed HMCS Glace Bay which is nothing but a medical team specializing in dive medicine.
On June 22, the Titan is officially declared as destroyed
On Thursday afternoon, a desperate last-minute search was conducted by one and all to locate Titan and its passengers, as the oxygen supply was running out. Finally, when the deadline crossed, the authorities declared that a “debris field” with five major outer pieces of the Titan was detected. It was also revealed that the submersible suffered a “catastrophic implosion” during its descent and was long gone even before the search and rescue operations began.
Officials also announced that its ruin lay next to the Titan wreckage, only 1600 feet away. Initial investigation showed that the failure of pressure haul and extreme water pressure near the ocean floor together led to the collapse of the submersible. All people on board were also reported as dead, although none of their corpses were found. Currently, more analysis is awaited.
