By Thomas Kielhorn
The allegations are getting louder… The mini-submarine Titan, which disappeared from radar on Sunday, is still missing.
About an hour and 45 minutes after the start of the dive, contact with the support boat “Polar Prince” was lost. According to the provider OceanGate, the seven meter small vehicle has enough oxygen for 96 hours. But experts were pessimistic about the chance of finding the Titan in time.
It has since been revealed that former head of OceanGate marine operations, David Lochridge, has been fired after raising security concerns. Lochridge has worked for OceanGate since May 2015, court documents show.
In 2018, OceanGate sued Lochridge for breach of trade secrets. In a January 2018 countersuit, the company alleged that it fired him after he raised “critical safety concerns about Titan’s experimental and untested design.”
US screenwriter Mike Reiss (63), who visited the Titanic wreck last year with the same mini-submarine, described the tour to the “BBC” – and made serious allegations against the operating company.
The compass failed immediately and only turned wildly. “We had to row around blindly at the bottom of the ocean,” says Reiss. Before the start of the journey, all participants had to sign a liability waiver in which “the word death appears three times on the first page”.
OceanGate has promised to make every effort to rescue the missing. “Our entire focus is on the well-being of the crew and every possible step will be taken to bring the five crew members back safely,” the statement said.
“We are deeply grateful for the urgent and comprehensive support we are receiving from multiple government agencies and deepwater companies as we attempt to reestablish contact with the submersible.”
S-Marine sends recovery system
Meanwhile, the US Navy sends a device to salvage the vehicle. As a spokeswoman said, the deep-sea recovery system with the abbreviation “Fadoss” should arrive in the Canadian city of St. Johns in Newfoundland on Wednesday night (local time). It was initially unclear when it could reach the search area hundreds of kilometers further south.
The US Navy describes “Fadoss” as a “portable ship lifting system that provides reliable deep-sea lifting capacity of up to 27 tons for the recovery of large, bulky, sunken objects such as airplanes or small ships.” The device’s winch and cable come in different versions Sizes depending on the type and weight of the object to be lifted. “Fadoss” could only be used once the submersible had been found. So far, however, there is still no trace of the Titan …
“You have to be crazy”
“I’m very upset,” explained Arthur Loibl, who is a member of the “German Titanic Association from 1997”. He knows two of the missing men personally and was in contact with one of them by email on Saturday. It is difficult to assess what could be the reason for the disappearance of the submersible. However, it must be terrible for the crew. You sit in a very small space, close together, your feet on top of each other. There is no toilet and after such a long time water and food are likely to run out.
At the time, he paid around $110,000 for his trip to the Titanic. “You have to be crazy and love adventure,” said Loibl. “You shouldn’t be afraid.” When he went underground, three Americans wanted to go with him, but they changed their minds at the last moment. The descent to the legendary wreck took two and a half hours.