Titan: The submersible | Special report

it was an international search and rescue operation that captivated the world they've got a lot of people heading over there and helping but the field in which they're looking is massive but these voyagers in the Deep were taking a terrible risk anyone in the exploration business of the deep sea expected this to happen they knew this was going to happen at some point along the way the promise of Adventure at this fabled site would end in disaster my worst fears as of Monday have now been realized two friends of mine are gone St John's Newfoundland is a rocky outpost on the edge of the North Atlantic its deep water Port used by fishermen and Traders and adventurers heading to the wreckage of RMS Titanic on Friday 16th of June a supply ship called polar Prince slipped out of the harbor setting a course for the southeast on board an experimental craft a submersible built by a company called Ocean Gate their revolutionary structure called Titan would make the ocean depths accessible to all the hull made from carbon fiber with titanium ends and it boasted the largest viewport on the market the founder was a Maverick engineer called Stockton Rush I'd like to be remembered as an innovator um I think it was General MacArthur said you remembered for the rules you break and you know I've broken some rules to make this I think I've broken them with with logic and good engineering behind me the carbon fiber and titanium there's a rule you don't do that well I did but a trip on Titan came at a price around two hundred and fifty thousand dollars per ticket and joining Mr Rush on this trip to the Titanic where the following self-described Mission Specialists Britain Hamish Harding he'd made a fortune as an aviation broker in Dubai a French adventurer who helped to run a company that exhibited items recovered from the site of the Titanic and they were joined by a father and son businessman shazada dayud and his 19 year old son Suleiman both British citizens shazada's sister said the trip was really important to her brother it was a Father's Day thing it was about the experience and you know he wanted the adventure of a lifetime just like his father did because his father wanted it and that was somebody all the way he would do anything for anyone we've traced the supply ship's movements with Marine tracker the polar Prince with the submersible on board took 46 hours to reach the site of the Titanic 380 miles from Saint John's but when they arrived the weather was poor something Hamish Harding wrote about on Instagram the worst weather in Newfoundland in 40 years he said but a weather window has just opened up and we're going to attempt a dive tomorrow they plan to make their descent at 4am on Sunday but the start time was delayed they began the dive at eight these pictures taken from The Polar Prince are the last images we have of the vessel one hour and 45 minutes later polar Prince lost contact with the vessel almost 10 hours later the supply ship raised the alarm informing the U.S Coast Guard that Titan had gone missing nobody had ever dealt with a situation like this there was a missing 22-foot submersible in waters four kilometers deep with no plan and no vessel to conduct a rescue the U.S Coast Guard good afternoon needed help this is a complex search effort which requires multiple agencies with subject matter expertise and specialized equipment the Canadians offered planes the French had equipment and the British personnel and a host of private companies offered support but the weather was atrocious on the first day of the search ships and planes reported zero visibility the people of Newfoundland knew it would be tough we interviewed the premier of The Province we've had one of the worst Springs in on record the worst spring since 1943 which of course is is bad enough being on land it's absolutely terrible being 600 kilometers off our shore as we're talking you know 12 foot waves a heavy fog very difficult search and rescue conditions they've seen tragedy on the high seas on this island before and they've mounted complex rescue efforts from here as well but no one not the Americans not the Canadians have been involved in an operation like this not at these distances and not at these depths members of previous Expeditions organized by Ocean Gate came forward citing concerns about safety and communication failures on board the company sent 28 people to the wreck of the Titanic last year industry Insider said they'd long raised concerns about the submersibles design anyone in the exploration business of the deep sea expected this to happen and we knew all the difficulties there would be about how do you recover from that if the sub is stuck on the sub on a shipwreck if they lose batteries if they're caught on the bottom some other way and nothing was done about it you know there are no policies there's no plan there's nothing within a matter of days Saint John's became the staging post for this dramatic ad hoc Rescue Mission and we saw Supply ships like the Horizon Arctic being hurriedly loaded with a deep sea winch and a sophisticated submersible lent by the U.S Navy and the operation was given new impetus when officials said sonar boys had picked up repetitive sounds in the ocean were the five men still alive in their chamber a friend of pH najole said the French explorer could keep them alive I believe it can be one of solution to this situation right you believe that even now do you I believe to the last moment specialist equipment like deep sea submersibles or rovs began to arrive at the search site one brought by French research ship latalante still officials knew that Titan's oxygen supply would be virtually depleted if the vessel was intact but the owners of its Supply ship the polar Prince remained optimistic the polar prints lost contact with the submersible on Sunday morning I mean realistically how optimistic are you that you will find the submersible and rescue the men on it the equipment that's been mobilized for this is um is the finest in the world uh the most capable in the world we have to hold out hope I think as you're aware there's still life support available on a submersible and we'll continue to hold old hope until the very end on Thursday afternoon four days after Titan had been reported missing the U.S Coast Guard released a message on social media a debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic it said experts are evaluating the information I think this is significant I think it is highly likely to be very significant David merns is a rescuer expert disguise Mark Austin was interviewing a deep sea specialist called David merns at that moment and he'd received his own information directly from the search area it's being relayed from the ships to the president of the Explorers Club who's been across this entire thing for the past several days that that what has been found in terms of debris is the landing frame and also a rear cover so it means the actual Hull hasn't yet been found but two very important parts of the whole system have been discovered and that would not be found unless this this it's fragmented it was a difficult moment for Mr Burns he had a close relationship with Hamish Harding and pH najalay my worst fears as of Monday have now been realized and the only thing is we've gone through these four days of concern and worry and hope and praying that the outcome would be different so yeah two friends of mine are gone this morning an ROV a remote operated vehicle from The Vessel Horizon Arctic discovered the tail cone of the Titan submersible approximately sixteen hundred feet from the bow of the Titanic on the sea floor the debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber upon this determination we immediately notified the families Coast Guard officials were unable to say whether they'd be able to recover the bodies the aunt of 19 year old Sula mandayud said her nephew didn't even want to go cinnamon he had a sense about things and he had a sense that this was not this was not okay and he just he was not very comfortable about doing it to be honest as terrible as this sounds at least knowing that they would have had time to know they would have just been sat there enjoying themselves and then suddenly boom and it was over to know that my surely didn't feel a moment's pain Adventure tourism has its limits and those who offer such experiences will face greater scrutiny and inevitably regulation it does need to be more regulation I just hope that there's a way to do this more safely but not to get not to stop it all together Titan's crew held a passion for exploration which has ended at the bottom of the sea their resting place now shared with those who lost their lives on the Titanic it may be prudent to leave them where they are John Sparks Sky News Saint John's Newfoundland

Channel: Sky News

Views: 675,185

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Id: W9z0t9AzTG8

Length: 11min 40sec (700 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 24 2023