An Oceangate submersible went missing On Sunday while exploring the remains of the legendary sunken ship, The Titanic. They lost contact with the research vessel, Polar Prince, around an hour and 45 minutes into the expedition and 900 miles from the coast of Cape Cod. Since then, the rescue effort has commenced.
British businessman and chairman of Action Aviation
From the five passengers of the submarine, three have been identified. British businessman and chairman of Action Aviation, Hamish Harding, along with Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Pakistani businessmen. Mr Harding announced his joining the team last year, calling it:
“…a couple of legendary explorers, some of which have done over 30 dives to the RMS Titanic since the 1980s.”
The Dawood family said:
“Our son Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, had embarked on a journey to visit the remnants of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean.”
They then updated when the submarine went missing, saying:
“We are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request everyone to pray for their safety while granting the family privacy at this time.”
Two C-130 Hercules aircrafts have been dispatched by the coastguard to conduct a surface level search, along with a Canadian C-130 and another P8 aircraft with sonar capability.
There are several theories as to what could’ve accounted for this disappearance. Professor Alistair Greig from University College London has predicted a number of scenarios, including the possibility that it may have released a drop weight in an emergency situation. He said:
“If there was a power failure and/or communication failure, this might have happened, and the submersible would then be bobbing about on the surface waiting to be found.”
He also theories that the hull might have been compromised, leading to a leak. “Then the prognosis isn’t good.”
He says:
“While the submersible might still be intact, if it is deeper than more than 200m there are very few vessels that can get that deep, and certainly not divers. The vehicles designed for navy submarine rescue certainly can’t get down to anywhere near the depth of the Titanic.”
