OceanGate: All 5 On Board Missing Titanic Sub Are Dead

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Facts

  • On Thursday, OceanGate Expeditions — a Washington-based ocean exploration firm conducting the Titan submersible tours of the Titanic ship wreckage since 2021 — said all five passengers aboard the submarine that went missing on Sunday have died.1
  • According to a statement released by OceanGate, the company's founder and CEO Stockton Rush, Pakistani billionaire Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, British businessman Hamish Harding, and French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet have "sadly been lost."2
  • The news came just minutes after the US Coast Guard reported that a debris field was discovered on the ocean floor near the wreckage of the Titanic, which, according to an expert, included "a landing frame and a rear cover from the submersible."3
  • Noting that they will likely never be able to recover the bodies of the five passengers on board the Titan, the US Coast Guard added: "The debris field is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel."1
  • Rear Admiral John Mauger said underwater banging sounds detected during the search-and-rescue operation might not have emanated from the Titan. Although, he added the loss of the pressure chamber could have "generated a significant... sound down there that the sonar buoys would have picked up."4
  • Even if the Titan were found intact, the travelers likely would have run out of oxygen by Thursday morning, as the air supply on board was estimated at 96 hours when it entered the water on Sunday morning.5

Sources: 1BBC News, 2CNN, 3Express.co.uk, 4Guardian, and 5USA Today.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Independent. We may never know whether deficiencies in design and construction or unwillingness to stick to established safety standards is what put the Titan in such a horrifying predicament. However, the tragic fate of the five passengers should be enough to inspire a new era of regulation for adventure tourism, including having a classification agency, such as the American Bureau of Shipping, inspect and certify such vessels and tours.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Daily Mail. While authorities must investigate allegations that OceanGate ignored safety flaws in its submersibles and conducted morbid tours at a hefty price tag, the tragic news is a gut-wrenching blow for the families of the unfortunate Titan crew that shared a passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans. It's essential to respect the victims' families' privacy and appreciate the unprecedented rescue operation at this painful time.
  • Cynical narrative, as provided by Al Jazeera. The submersible's implosion and the death of its occupants is undoubtedly tragic. At the same time, it's telling that the world rallied to find a missing sub while giving minimal coverage to the shipwrecked migrants that went missing off the coast of Greece last week. As the global media and the international marine agencies try to investigate Titan's loss, they must also give more sympathy and attention to the hundreds of migrants that remain missing.