OceanGate submersible Titan.Photo:EyePress News/Shutterstock
EyePress News/Shutterstock
The five passengers aboard theTitanlikely “died instantly” when the submersible imploded during a journey to theTitanic, an expert tells PEOPLE.
Multiple pieces of the missing sub were located near theTitanicwhile a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) from the Canadian vesselHorizon Arcticsearched the area on Thursday, Coast Guard officials said at a press conference in Boston on Thursday.
TheHorizon Arcticdiscovered theTitan’s tail cone about 1,600 feet from the bow of theTitanic, United States Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said. Additional debris was found that is “consistent with thecatastrophic loss of the pressure chamber.”
Passengers likely did not have time to react to an implosion, according to journalist Josh Dean, who has written extensively about deep sea exploration — including OceanGate Expeditions and its CEO Stockton Rush — and the husband of PEOPLE contributor Gillian Telling.
“It’s a deeply tragic, terrible thing,” Dean tells PEOPLE. “I’ve often heard it described as happening faster than the brain can process what’s happening.”
Alamy Stock Photo
The location of theTitan’s wreckage was “consistent with the location of last communication for an implosion” in the water, Paul Hankins, the US Navy’s director of salvage operations and ocean engineering said at Thursday’s press conference.
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A catastrophic failure of the pressure system would be “like a small bomb going off,” Williams previously toldThe Guardian.
“Although the Titan’s composite hull is built to withstand intense deep-sea pressures, any defect in its shape or build could compromise its integrity — in which case there’s a risk of implosion,” Williams wrote in his blog post.
OceanGate submersible Titan.Alamy Stock Photo
“That was the first indication that there was a catastrophic event,” Hankins explained. Crews also found a second, smaller debris field in which they found the other end of the pressure hull, he added.
Dean tells PEOPLE that the passengers’ “only chance” of survival was if theTitanhad dumped its ballast and risen back to the surface.
Even if the sub hadn’t imploded, Dean says, “unfortunately, there is no machine or system on earth capable of saving people at that depth.”
“I think rescue was never honestly an option,” he adds.
source: people.com
