OceanGate submarine disappears at bottom of ocean

[Turgon]

A submarine carrying several wealthy people has disappeared while on route to visit the Titanic wreckage. They haven't been heard from since Sunday and have very little time left before their air runs out. This is getting a lot of coverage here and what's notable in the above video is the mention of one of the crew having travelled with Buzz Aldrin in the South Pole while another is a trustee for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). Whether there's foul play involved in the disappearance of this sub and the people in it, the situation is being used to prime the public even more.

 

[forest_light]

A submarine carrying several wealthy people has disappeared while on route to visit the Titanic wreckage. They haven't been heard from since Sunday and have very little time left before their air runs out. This is getting a lot of coverage here and what's notable in the above video is the mention of one of the crew having travelled with Buzz Aldrin in the South Pole while another is a trustee for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). Whether there's foul play involved in the disappearance of this sub and the people in it, the situation is being used to prime the public even more.

Missing Titanic sub search continues as banging sounds heard​

US Coast Guard says underwater noises detected but subsequent searches "yielded negative results"​

The US Coast Guard said early Wednesday that a Canadian aircraft assisting with search operations "detected underwater noises in the search area" but subsequent searches "yielded negative results."

"Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater noises in the search area. As a result, ROV operations were relocated in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises. Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue," the Coast Guard said in a tweet.
"Additionally, the data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our US Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans."

Earlier, an internal US government memo said crews searching for the submersible heard banging at 30 minute intervals, and a Canadian P3 aircraft also located a white rectangular object in the water.

How absolutely terrifying for these people, and their loved ones, friends and colleagues.

I think they have around 30 hours of breathable oxygen left.

Perhaps the white rectangular object is something that has come off the exterior of the submersible and is part of the reason for why they vanished 1.5 hours into their mission?

Don't these things have some kind of 'tracker' or locator beacon that activates if in distress?

 

[Beau]

Don't these things have some kind of 'tracker' or locator beacon that activates if in distress?

If they actually made it to the Titanic wreckage, then they are two and a half miles down in the ocean. From what I've read, most military subs don't go that deep, at least partly because of a scenario like this. Not even the Coast Guard has a vessel capable of reaching them.

 

[Beau]

How absolutely terrifying for these people, and their loved ones, friends and colleagues.

The company will probably be sued into oblivion if things end tragically, considering this admission:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1671372833979785217

 

[Beau]

I've moved the posts about the missing sub to a new thread, as it did not fit within the alien disclosure thread.

 

[Tuulikki]

I saw the inside of the missing vessel on the BBC website and it looks tiny. I cannot imagine a worse scenario than to be crammed into a tiny space and realising that you are reaching zero hour. I cannot imagine my feelings if I was in this position - not that I would be as I cannot cope with very small spaces and would never in a million years be able to afford the £195,000 price tag for the 8 day all round trip. It reminds me of the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk which sank to the bottom of the Barents Sea in 2000 and in which all 118 crew members died. 23 survived the explosions but were not able to be rescued before their oxygen ran out after 8 hours. A rescue would be truly miraculous but miracles are sadly short on the ground....an absolutely dreadful situation for them and their loved ones.

 

[Iain]

The company will probably be sued into oblivion if things end tragically, considering this admission:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1671372833979785217

Looks very likely.

From everything I have read over the past few days this probable disaster looks like a case of bravado and negligence on the part of the designers/owners of the Titan. This is certainly what the media are going for and in this case I am inclined to believe them. Lawsuits and prosecutions look highly likely (although the CEO of Oceangate is on board...).


Although it has performed a few successful expeditions to the Titanic wreck, there have been stories of multiple safety concerns and whistle blowers over the years too:

A whistleblower raised safety concerns about OceanGate’s submersible in 2018. Then he was fired.

The director of marine operations at OceanGate was fired after raising concerns about its first-of-a-kind carbon fiber hull.

techcrunch.com

David Lochridge was terminated in January 2018 after presenting a scathing quality control report on the vessel to OceanGate’s senior management, including founder and CEO Stockton Rush, who is on board the missing vessel.

The report detailed “numerous issues that posed serious safety concerns,” according to the filing. These included Lochridge’s worry that “visible flaws” in the carbon fiber supplied to OceanGate raised the risk of small flaws expanding into larger tears during “pressure cycling.”

Lochridge’s recommendation was that non-destructive testing of the Titan’s hull was necessary to ensure a “solid and safe product.” The filing states that Lochridge was told that such testing was impossible, and that OceanGate would instead rely on its much touted acoustic monitoring system.

Lochridge, however, worried in the lawsuit that the system would not reveal flaws until the vessel was descending, and then might only provide “milliseconds” of warning before a catastrophic implosion.

A day after filing his report, Lochridge was summoned to a meeting with Rush and company’s human resources, engineering and operations directors. There, the filing states, he was also informed that the manufacturer of the Titan’s forward viewport would only certify it to a depth of 1,300 meters due to OceanGate’s experimental design. The filing states that OceanGate refused to pay for the manufacturer to build a viewport that would meet the Titan’s intended depth of 4,000 meters. The Titanic lies about 3,800 meters below the surface.

The filing also claims that hazardous flammable materials were being used within the submersible.

At the end of the meeting, after saying that he would not authorize any manned tests of Titan without a scan of the hull, Lochridge was fired and escorted from the building.

Lochridge was fired in Jan 2018 after being accused of sharing confidential information, he claims it was because he had blow the whistle on the company.
Oceangate claimed they did not need to get the vessel certified by the American Bureau of Shipping because:

“The vast majority of marine (and aviation) accidents are a result of operator error, not mechanical failure,” it reads. “As a result, simply focusing on classing the vessel does not address the operational risks. Maintaining high-level operational safety requires constant, committed effort and a focused corporate culture – two things that OceanGate takes very seriously and that are not assessed during classification.”

In 2019, Rush gave an interview to Smithsonian magazine, in which he said: “There hasn’t been an injury in the commercial sub industry in over 35 years. It’s obscenely safe, because they have all these regulations. But it also hasn’t innovated or grown—because they have all these regulations.”

In Jan 2020 the Titan's hull did show "signs of cyclic fatigue" and could no longer reach the depth of the Titanic. It was either rebuilt or repaired but "not much with Titan had changed since 2018".

Further warnings from this article:

Ex-OceanGate employee warned 'experimental' sub needed MORE testing

David Lochridge warned in 2018 that OceanGate - which charges up to $250,000 for a seat - would 'subject passengers to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible'.

www.dailymail.co.uk

In regards to the 'acoustic testing' of hull integrity:

'This was problematic because this type of acoustic analysis would only show when a component is about to fail, often milliseconds before an implosion, and would not detect any existing flaws prior to putting pressure on to the hull,' Lochridge's counterclaim said.

Further, the craft was designed to reach depths of 4,000 meters (13,123 feet). But, according to Lochridge, the passenger viewport was only certified for depths of up to 1,300 meters (4,265 feet), and OceanGate would not pay for the manufacturer to build a viewport certified for 4,000 meters.

OceanGate's choices would 'subject passengers to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible,' the counterclaim said.

In 2018 the Marine Technology Society were also critical:

In a letter to Rush, the society said it was critical that the company submit its prototype to tests overseen by an expert third party before launching in order to safeguard passengers.

Rush had refused to do so. Rush was piloting the vessel that is now missing.

The letter, reported by the New York Times, said society members were worried that 'the current experimental approach adopted by OceanGate could result in negative outcomes (from minor to catastrophic) that would have serious consequences for everyone in the industry.'

In a 2019 interview with Smithsonian magazine, Rush complained that the industry's approach was stifling innovation.

'There hasn't been an injury in the commercial sub industry in over 35 years,' he said. 'It's obscenely safe because they have all these regulations. But it also hasn't innovated or grown - because they have all these regulations.

Arthur Loibl, a German adventurer, paid for a trip in 2021:

German who paid OceanGate to see Titanic calls it a 'suicide mission'

Arthur Loibl, 60, dove the 12,500 feet to the Atlantic ocean wreck site in August 2021, and says he was 'incredibly lucky' to survive, saying the Titanic expedition was his most 'extreme' adventure.

www.dailymail.co.uk

'The first submarine didn't work, then a dive at 1,600 meters had to be abandoned. My mission was the 5th, but we also went into the water five hours late due to electrical problems,' he recounts to the publication.

Shortly before the sub was launched, Loibl says the bracket of the stabilisation tube - used to provide balance as the craft descends into the depths - fell off the vessel.

'That was reattached with zip ties. That didn't worry me,' he tells Bild.

And from a CBS journalist, David Pogue, who had a trip on the sub in 2022:

How OceanGate built 'improvised' submersible from camping kit and a video game controller

Journalist invited on to Titanic journey last year noted the vessel's construction seemed curiously 'off-the-shelf'

www.telegraph.co.uk

But David Pogue, a journalist for US broadcaster CBS, had some misgivings about his prize assignment as he climbed aboard last summer.

If the mission was grand, “Titan” the submersible ferrying passengers almost two-and-a-half miles below the ocean, was anything but.

No roomier than a minivan, it was, incredibly, piloted by a video game controller; its lighting purchased from a camping shop, construction pipes making do as ballast.

“I couldn’t help noticing how many pieces of this sub seemed improvised, with off-the-shelf components,” Pogue reported. A far cry from the famed majesty of the ship it was off to see.

In the end, Pogue’s journey with the tour group OceanGate down into the dark abyss was a rousing success – although it did entail getting lost for a few hours.

Mr Rush rejected Pogue’s suggestion that some elements of the vessel were improvised during their interview last year. “I don’t know if I’d use that description of it,” he told CBS. “There are certain things that you want to be buttoned down. The pressure vessel is ... where we worked with Boeing and Nasa and the University of Washington. Everything else can fail, your thrusters can go, your lights can go. You’re still going to be safe.”

Pogue noted that OceanGate’s paperwork stated that the “experimental vessel” has not been approved “by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, emotional trauma, or death”.

“Where do I sign?” the journalist said.

Despite the high-tech 'NASA' hull, everything else seems very cobbled together with a very gung-ho attitude and little thought of safety at all.

The chances of the Titan being found seem to be very remote unfortunatley. If it is on the ocean bed, finding it would be next to impossible. There are very few vehicles that can reach that depth even if it was found and I do not know of any that could lift its 10 tonnes to the surface. Even then, the crew need to be let out manually from the outside as they are effectively bolted in and cannot get out by themselves.

Apparently they would have air until Thursday morning (GMT I believe), so looks pretty bleak. If the hull did fail, then it was all over as soon as it lost contact...

 

[Ca.]

A submarine carrying several wealthy people has disappeared while on route to visit the Titanic wreckage.

The latest efforts for the recovery of OceanGate.

Missing Titanic sub: Noises heard in ocean, still no remains of vessel as oxygen supply lowers

Jun 21, 2023

https://twitter.com/x/status/1671538159274917888

https://twitter.com/x/status/1671592624061308953

https://twitter.com/x/status/1671570599100162049

https://twitter.com/x/status/1671608167552131072

 

[forest_light]

Deep-sea robot Victor 6000 rushed to site in Titanic race-against-time rescue​

The Victor 6000 is being rushed to the search site aboard French research vessel L’Atalante, but is not expected to arrive until Wednesday evening EST — around 12 hours before the oxygen supply on the missing submersible is expected to run out Thursday.

A 10-foot-long, remote-controlled robot with a bright yellow back, the Victor 6000 has been described as a “flagship device for underwater operations,” by the French network BMTV, and is capable of reaching a depth of 6,000 meters (20,000 feet).

With the Titanic lying 12,500 feet beneath the waves on the ocean floor, the craft should be more than capable of reaching it.

A rescue would see the Victor 6000 accompanied by Horizon Arctic, a powerful tug and supply ship which has a large cable which the deep sea craft can take down with it toward the wreck of the Titanic.

Victor 6000 is equipped with a robotic arm, which could be used for dislodging the lost Titan submersible if it is discovered trapped within the Titanic wreckage. It can also attach the cable from the Horizon Arctic to the vessel to help pull it to safety.

 

[Natus Videre]

Deep-sea robot Victor 6000 rushed to site in Titanic race-against-time rescue

At this point, it's either going to be a tragedy or a Hollywood movie.
If Victor 6000 saves these "poor" people, one can only imagine the movie's title: Humans & Robots: A Match Made In Heaven.

 

[Natus Videre]

The company will probably be sued into oblivion if things end tragically, considering this admission:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1671372833979785217

The company that operates the missing Titanic sub is likely protected from future lawsuits thanks to the 'tons of risk' that passengers incurred, legal experts say

"The chance of family members of the passengers having a successful lawsuit against the company is close to zero," attorney Sherif Edmond El Dabe, a partner with El Dabe Ritter Trial Lawyers, said in comments shared with Insider. "The passengers knowingly participated in an extremely hazardous activity and they knowingly assumed great risk."

Passengers onboard the vessel, who each paid $250,000 to take the journey to the famous shipwreck, also signed a waiver before embarking on the trip.

"Everyone on board knew this wasn't a vacation or a sightseeing trip, and the disclaimer appears to have made the risk of death very clear multiple times," lawyer Miguel Custodio, co-founder of Custodio and Dubey LLP, said in comments to Insider.

A former passenger on one of the Titan's exploratory ventures said this week that the waiver he signed before his trip mentioned the risk of death three times on the first page alone.

"You sign a massive waiver that lists one way after another that you could die on the trip," Mike Reiss told the BBC. "So nobody who's in this situation was caught off guard. You all know what you are getting into."

"It would be preposterous for their families to turn around and sue the company that they hired to dive to the wreck of the Titanic," he added.

That legal protection, however, only extends as far as OceanGate informed its passengers of the various risks they faced in boarding the submersible, according to Custodio.

Rush's statements on safety, as well as the former employee's lawsuit could prove legally dangerous to OceanGate if the current search and rescue mission becomes a search and recovery effort, Custodio said.

"The waiver could be challenged if it can be found that OceanGate was negligent in the way it was being designed or operated, and that caused the submersible to be lost," he added.

Nothing too surprising, however the name of the expedition carries curious scandal-like vibes... Pizzagate, Watergate, OceanGate?
Is there a cover-up taking place?

 

[Ca.]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1671729739583594497

Wife of missing OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush is a descendant of couple killed on Titanic in 1912: report

Stockton Rush’s wife, Wendy, is a direct descendant of Isador and Ida Straus, who were passengers on the Titanic when it hit an iceberg during its maiden voyage in 1912.

www.foxnews.com

The wife of Stockton Rush, the OceanGate CEO who went missing Sunday on a tourist submersible that dove to view the Titanic wreckage, is a descendant of two first-class passengers who died on the Titanic, according to a report.

Stockton’s wife Wendy Rush is a direct descendant of Isador and Ida Straus, who were among more than 1,500 people who died when the iconic vessel struck an iceberg and sank into the sea during a voyage through the Atlantic Ocean in 1912, the New York Times reported.

The Strauses were two wealthy first-class passengers who had been married for more than 40 years. Survivors recalled Ida Straus refusing a spot on a lifeboat when the ship began to sink. Instead, she chose to remain with her husband in their final moments, the Times reported.

Their story was included in James Cameron’s fictional 1997 blockbuster "Titanic," depicted as an elderly couple who remained in bed together as their room filled with water, per the report.

OCEANGATE TITANIC SUB SEARCH: COAST GUARD SAYS MORE 'BANGING NOISES' HEARD, BUT SOURCE UNCONFIRMED

The ill-fated White Star liner RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic in April 1912. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Joan Adler, the executive director of the Straus Historical Society, told the paper that Isador and Ida Straus had a daughter, Minnie Strauss, who married Dr. Richard Weil in 1905, and they had a son, Richard Weil Jr.

His son, Dr. Richard Weil III, is Wendy Rush’s father, Adler explained.

NY merchant Isador Straus was one of the 1,517 passengers who died when the Titanic struck an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean April 14, 1912. (Getty Images)

MISSING TITANIC SUB PASSENGER BELONGS TO SAME EXPLORERS CLUB AS JEFF BEZOS, JOSH GATES, ASTRONAUT BUZZ ALDRIN

Wendy and Stockton Rush reportedly married in 1986, and she works with her husband as the communications director for OceanGate, according to her LinkedIn page.

She previously served as the president of the OceanGate Foundation, where she still serves as a board member, her profile showed.

STEPSON OF TITANIC SUBMARINE PASSENGER ATTENDS BLINK-182 CONCERT AMID SEARCH: ‘HELPED ME THROUGH HARD TIMES’

Ida Straus, who was born in 1849, was the wife Isador Straus, co-owner of the Macy's department store. Both of the Strauses died on the Titanic in 1912. (Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Stockton Rush, 61, is one of the five passengers of OceanGate’s Titan submersible who remain missing after they boarded the 21-foot-long vessel, helmed by Rush, on Sunday for what was expected to be an 8-hour descent to the Atlantic Ocean floor.

About an hour and 45 minutes into their voyage, the sub lost contact with Canadian research vessel Polar Prince. A massive search and rescue operation began off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, at around 5:40 p.m. – nearly three hours after the sub was expected to resurface.

United States Coast Guard officials reported Wednesday evening that the vessel, which was only equipped with a 96-hour oxygen supply, has less than 12 hours of oxygen remaining.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1671697504981622785

https://twitter.com/x/status/1671703509970956288

 

[Cosmos]

I have only skipped through this thread, so apologize if it was covered already.

My first feeling when I heard about it was the question if something „unusual“ has happened to the submarine?

Why haven’t we heard of any contact attempts between the submarine and the outside world? No such devices on board?

Isn’t there a tracker on board?

Has the electric system failed and that explains the above?

Has the submarine imploded and that explains at least partly some questions above?

Wouldn’t some satellites be able to try to find the submarine? Why haven’t we heard of such attempts from satellites?

Leaving speculations about „unusual“ happenings aside, I think the people in the submarine face a painful and tragic fate. The chances are very low that something can be done. Tragic all around.

 

[Beau]

My first feeling when I heard about it was the question if something „unusual“ has happened to the submarine?

Why haven’t we heard of any contact attempts between the submarine and the outside world? No such devices on board?

Radio waves can't pass through water, at least not to any real depths. That's why subs that are not close to the surface use sonar to locate other vessels. It's also why satellites would not be of much help. A Canadian military vessel did pick up sounds from the area where OceanGate would presumably be, which some have thought was the people in there pounding on the inner walls, perhaps using morse code. That is essentially their only option for communicating with the outside world.

 

[Persej]

Wouldn’t some satellites be able to try to find the submarine? Why haven’t we heard of such attempts from satellites?

Satellites cannot find big military submarines, so they certainly wouldn't be able to find such a small submarine.