It’s been a year since The Titan submersible imploded en route to the Titanic, killing five people. And although basic questions about what happened remain unresolved, new commercial attempts are already underway to repeat the risky descent with tourists.
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This Monday, one day before the first anniversary of the accident, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) published an update of the investigation it has been carrying out for a year in which found that the Titan operated since 2021 without “being registered or certified in Canada or any other country.”
U.S. Coast Guard photo shows the Bahamian research vessel “Deep Energy” during the search for the Titan submersible.
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As a result of the investigations underway, TSB warned that it has identified “other submersibles operating in Canadian waters and in the country’s exclusive economic zone, both before and after June 2023″, which are not registered with any country.
For this reason, earlier this year the federal agency warned the Canadian Ministry of Transport “of the risk posed by submersibles operating in Canadian waters.”
This was the Titan tragedy in June 2023
The danger of uncertified submersibles was evident on June 18, 2023 with the Titan tragedy, the only bathyscaphe in the world made with carbon fiber and that In theory it was capable of diving to a depth of 4,000 meters.
That day, The submersible began a dive towards the Titanic with five people on board: the millionaire Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood with his son Suleman, a 19-year-old student; British explorer Hamish Harding; the French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet and the CEO of the OceanGate firm, Stockton Rush.
Approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes after the start of the descent, communication with the Titan was lost and search and rescue tasks began. On June 22, the US Coast Guard confirmed the discovery of the remains of the vessel at the bottom of the ocean and that all of its occupants had died.
Titan submersible, from OceanGate Expeditions.
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Twelve months later, Canada and the United States are still investigating. Canada because although the Titan was a US vessel operating in international waters, the submersible departed from Canadian territory.
The wreck of the Titanic, the British liner that sank on April 15, 1912 in the North Atlantic while en route from the United Kingdom to New York, killing 1,496 people, is located outside Canadian waters: Newfoundland is the most close to the wreck area.
That’s why, OceanGate, the company that owns the Titan submersible, has been operating since 2021 from the Canadian town of Cape Race, about 325 nautical miles northwest of the site of the Titanic sinking.
And from Cape Race, the Titan’s mother ship, the Canadian ship Polar Prince, departed in June 2023, dragging the OceanGate bathyscaphe alongside its platform.
The British liner sank in April 1912.
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How investigations into the Titan tragedy are progressing
The US Coast Guard warned this Monday in a statement that the investigation “remains active but will take longer than initially expected” due to its complexity.
The dominant theory is that Titan’s carbon fiber hull had suffered microfractures in previous dives that weakened the structure until it gave way due to the enormous pressures of diving towards the Titanic.
Under compression loads, the fibers of such composites are susceptible to microbuckling.
In fact, a study by engineers from the University of Houston published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and cited by the Spanish newspaper El Confidencial, indicates that Researchers believe that the tragedy occurred due to the use of inappropriate material for the type of demanding missions that the submersible carried out.
“The hull of the Titan was made with a carbon fiber composite. Under compression loads, the fibers of these composites are susceptible to microbuckling and can delaminate from the matrix that surrounds them,” the study says, according to the cited media.
The engineers point out that the pressures to which the submersible’s hull was subjected could have caused significant effects on its rigidity. and in its resistance during numerous tests and expeditions, until the submersible finally imploded that June day.
Image courtesy of OceanGate Expeditions shows the Titan submersible.
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But the truth is that this is a complex investigation that could take years if one takes into account the lack of witnesses or the difficulties in collecting data in international waters.
OceanGate, owner of the submersible, suspended its operations towards the Titanic in early July 2023, a few days after the tragedy.
But a year later, the desire of other companies to get to the bottom to observe the Titanic has not disappeared. Such is the case of the billionaire Larry Connor, a real estate businessman from Ohio (USA), who continues with his plans to descend 3,800 meters to the site of the remains of the Titanic.
For this adventure, which could take place in 2026, Connor has teamed up with Patrick Lahey, whose company Triton Submarines specializes in building deep-sea bathyscaphes.
Both Connor and Lahey wanted to emphasize in statements to the press that His project is not comparable to that of OceanGate and Titan, a submersible that, after the accident, was considered a vehicle built by amateurs. with numerous design errors.
According to Triton Submarines, the Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer, whose hull is basically an acrylic bubble with capacity for two people and which has an estimated price of 20 million dollars, will be certified to dive to about 4,000 meters.
“I want to show the world that although the ocean is very powerful, it can be wonderful and enjoyable and life-changing if done right,” Connor told The Wall Street Journal in May.
“I worry that people associate submarines, especially ones that are new or different, with danger or tragedy,” he added.
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