Topline
As the search for the missing tourist submersible enters its fourth day, the vessel has now been missing 96 hours, a deadline experts gave early on saying that’s when they likely would be out of oxygen—though some believe that’s not exact.
This undated image provided by OceanGate Expeditions in June 2021 shows the company’s Titan … [+]
Key Facts
The 21-foot submersible descended into the ocean around 4 a.m. EDT Sunday to take a group of tourists to see the wreckage site of the famous Titanic ship, a journey that typically takes two hours, but it lost contact with its mother ship about an hour and 45 minutes later, outlets including USA Today have reported.
U.S. Coast Guard officials have said submersible, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, has an estimated 96 hours worth of oxygen.
Still, the rescue mission, which is being led by the U.S. Coast Guard with the help of OceanGate Expeditions, the Canadian Coast Guard, a French research vessel, a Norwegian multi-purpose ship and the U.S. Navy, among others, continues with no announced end in sight.
Crucial Quote
“We’re right in the middle of a search and rescue case, so I don’t want to get into a discussion about when that would end,” Capt. Jamie Frederick of the U.S. Coast Guard said to the Washington Post Wednesday afternoon.
Contra
Some experts are saying the 96-hour timeline may not be rigid. Ken LeDez, a hyperbaric medicine expert at Memorial University in Newfoundland, told BBC News that some of those aboard could survive longer than expected, depending on “how cold they get and how effective they are at conserving oxygen.” He said things like shivering will use oxygen quicker, but huddling together could keep them warm and help conserve oxygen. While grim, it’s possible some passengers could survive longer than others, he said. LeDez also acknowledged that nobody knows what is going on inside the vessel right now and many factors could be affecting their oxygen levels. He explained that running out of oxygen is a gradual process “not like switching off a light, it’s like climbing a mountain.”
Key Background
he missing submersible has captivated social media, dominated the news cycle and been the focus of an estimated multi-million dollar search effort for several days now. Inside the vessel are three wealthy tourists who paid $250,000 each to see the wreckage of the Titanic, which famously sank on its maiden voyage in 1912, along with the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions and the submersible’s captain. One expert, Rob Larter, a marine geophysicist with the British Antarctic Survey, emphasized the difficulty of finding something this size, describing it to the AP as “just a needle in a haystack situation.” The craft is about 22 feet (6.5 meters) long and 9 feet (nearly 3 meters) high, and the search area the Coast Guard had identified is thousands of miles, twice the size of Connecticut, and about 2 and a half miles (4 kilometers) deep.
Further Reading
5 Reportedly Missing After Titanic Wreck Tourism Vessel Disappears In Atlantic (Forbes)
What We Know About The Passengers On The Missing Titanic Submersible (Forbes)
Here’s What We Know About OceanGate’s Sub That Tours Titanic—Using 1 Button (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/willskipworth/2023/06/22/titanic-sub-hits-critical-96-hour-mark-when-experts-say-oxygen-may-run-out/