What we know about the missing OceanGate submarine:
- On Sunday, the OceanGate Titan submarine, carrying five passengers, was reported as missing.
- According to estimates from the Coast Guard, the Titan is expected to run out of breathable air by Thursday morning Eastern Standard Time.
- The individuals on board have been identified as OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, French mariner Paul-Henry Nargeolet, British businessman and explorer Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, and his son Sulaiman Dawood.
- Weighing in at 20,000 lbs., the five-person submersible has the capability to dive to 13,120 feet.
Yesterday, there were reports of signs of life detected in the vicinity where the submarine was initially reported missing.
Audio recordings were released that captured the recurring sounds heard at thirty-minute intervals during the search for the lost submarine.
On Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard announced that the Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic has deployed a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to commence the search for the missing OceanGate Titan submarine on the seabed.
This marks the first instance in the search operation where a vessel is actively surveying the Atlantic Ocean floor in search of the lost submarine and its five occupants.
Prior search operations primarily involved aircraft and sonar technologies.
“The French vessel L’Atalante has just deployed their ROV,” the Coast Guard also said.
The origin of these sounds has yet to be verified.
The US Coast Guard has stated that they do not have any knowledge of sounds coming from the area.
According to the Coast Guard, the search efforts have covered an area equivalent to twice the size of Connecticut, located 900 nautical miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
The cause of the submarine’s disappearance remains unknown, and additional vessels have been arriving at the search location throughout the week.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Coast Guard classified the international efforts as a search and rescue mission.
CEO Stockton Rush prioritized diversity over competency and experience in his approach to hiring.
From The Geller Report:
Stockton Rush, CEO of the OceanGate company responsible for a Titanic exploration submarine currently lost at sea, prioritized diversity over experience when putting together crews. “When I started business… other sub operators [were] out there but they typically [had] gentlemen who are ex-military submariners… a whole bunch of 50-year-old white guys,” he said during a 2020 interview.
“I wanted our team to be younger, to be inspirational… [A] 25-year-old who’s a sub pilot or a platform operator or one of our techs can be inspirational,” he said while an image of a female crew member showed on screen, adding: “We also want our team to have a variety of different backgrounds.”
As noted above, Stockton Rush is on board the OceanGate submarine.
Watch:
