While many hoped for the safe return of the passengers of the Titan, USC Professor William Berelson suspected the worst.
“I talked to my family about what had possibly happened and this was to me one of the most likely possible things that happened, which is a terrible accident,” Berelson said. “But because of a flaw in this device … Just under that pressure, it just basically explodes.”
Berelson runs the Berelson Lab at USC, where oceanography research is conducted in the Department of Earth Sciences. Much of his research is based around studies of biogenic material fluxes to the sea floor. Annenberg Media spoke to the professor Thursday after the United States Coast Guard announced that a catastrophic implosion may be what doomed the OceanGate’s Titan vessel.
Concerns about the safety of the vessel itself have been raised.
“The submarine has to be really, really well constructed and really well safety tested…some people said that maybe the safety testing wasn’t as good as it should have been,” Berelson said.
Up until now, the USCG had been continuing its search for the missing Titan, owned and operated by OceanGate Expeditions, a company dedicated to its mission to “help expand understanding of the ocean by providing opportunities for citizen explorers and scientists to explore its depths with their own eyes.”
On Sunday, Titan lost connection with the mainland. Since then, authorities including the Coast Guard and OceanGate have been desperately searching for the submersive vehicle.
“A debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic. Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information,” the Coast Guard tweeted Thursday morning.
On Thursday at 3 p.m. EDT, Rear Admiral John Mauger, the First Coast Guard District commander, and Captain Jamie Frederick, the First Coast Guard District response coordinator, held a press conference in which they announced their suspicions about the fate of the submersible and its occupants.
During the press conference, the USCG offered condolences to the families of the Titan’s passengers. Additionally, the USCG offered more information regarding a debris field they discovered on Thursday.
The USCG announced that they “found five different major pieces of debris that told us that it was the remains of the Titan.”
This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the seafloor. The debris is consistent with a catastrophic imploding of the vessel,” Mauger said. “We will continue to work and search the area.”
The location of the Titan submersible vessel was in an area that was approximately 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic, Coast Guard officials said.
The next phase of the search will include investigating the site of the debris field and documenting the scene in the hopes of providing the families of the victims with a better understanding of what occurred.
“Throughout the search efforts, we reacted to the information that we had available to us. We continue to send it off for deeper analysis,” the USCG said.
Although previous reports of banging sounds were reported, they are no longer expected to be related to the site of what the Coast Guard thinks is the debris field of the vessel.
“There doesn’t appear to be any connection between the noises and the location on the seafloor. This was a catastrophic implodement of the vessel which would have generated a significant broadband sound that we would have picked up,” Mauger said.
Five passengers, otherwise known as “mission specialists,” were aboard the watercraft, including: Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, Paul-Henry Nargeolet, Hamish Harding and Stockton Rush, the CEO of Ocean Gate, the company responsible for the exploration.
Dawood was 48 years old and was a trustee of the SETI institute, which is a non-profit organization that dedicates itself to researching life and intelligence in the universe. He was originally from Pakistan but resided in southeast London. He was also the vice president of an investment company named Dawood Hercules Corporation, which manufactures chemical products.
Nargeolet was in the French Navy for 20 years, and he joined the French Institute for Research and Exploration of the Sea afterwards. He made more than 12 dives and had recovered numerous objects from a previously recovered ship.
Harding was the president of Action Aviation, which is a company that specializes in purchasing and selling aircrafts. He has also been a part of the Blue Origin Project spearheaded by Jeff Bezos and flew to the edge of space previously.
Rush, the CEO of OceanGate, founded the company 13 years ago and simultaneously acted as the executive director. He became the youngest qualified jet transport pilot when he gained captain rank at just 10 years old.
Dr. Michael Guillen was a scientist and author who was previously in a vessel that got stuck in the Titanic wreck and survived.
“It had to have been a catastrophic failure,” said Guillen.
When it comes to the reported previously heard noises, Guillen never sensed a correlation, given the intense and panicked nature of the situation.
“Frankly, if I were in that sub stranded, I wouldn’t wait for 30-minute intervals,” said Guillen.