Five people are missing after the submarine “Titan” lost contact with the mother ship two days ago. The submarine was supposed to go down to a depth of 3,800 meters to look at the wreck of the Titanic off Newfoundland. A large-scale rescue operation is underway, where aircraft, helicopters and sonar are used, among other things, to find the missing vessel. A dangerous mission There are several dangers associated with going as far down as the goal of this expedition. Firstly, there will be extreme pressure, which can lead to collapse of the structure. In addition, there is a risk of losing communication and navigation when you go that deep, says Professor Asgeir Sørensen at the Department of Marine Engineering at NTNU. – The sea is terribly big. You will not be very far away from the area you are working with, until you do not know where you are if you have lost your navigational instrument. Professor Asgeir Sørensen is director of NTNU’s research center on autonomous maritime operations, NTNU AMOS. Photo: Morten Andersen / news Because of the risk associated with this, manned vessels are rarely used at such depths, he says. – One of the main points of using unmanned technology is that we do not want to have people at such depths. There is a high risk associated with this type of operation. Fear that they may have taken too high a risk. It is the company OceanGate Expeditions that owns the vessel that is now missing. They have carried out several dives with Titanic fans who have bought expensive tickets to see the ship that went down on its maiden voyage in 1912. Facts about Titanic Photo: AP Titanic – British passenger ship, completed in 1912 for the White Star Line, Liverpool. Titanic was 46,300 GRT and thus the world’s largest ship (next to her sister ship Olympic, which was owned by the same line). The ship had a double bottom with 16 watertight bulkheads and was considered unsinkable. It was commissioned on the Southampton-New York route where it sank on its maiden voyage, south of Newfoundland on the night of 15 April 1912. The ship went down just under three hours after striking an iceberg which caused several holes in the hull and allowed the water to flow into five or six of the bulkheads. The number of lifeboats was insufficient. Something over 1,500 people perished, well 700 were saved; 20 of the dead were Norwegian. The wreck was located in 1985 at approx. 4,000 m deep and has since been carefully examined with an underwater robot. The scale of the tragedy and the contrast between the luxury among the rich on board and death in the icy water have fascinated posterity. Many have seen the shipwreck as an allegory of the end of the “glittering” era in which bourgeois Europe had lived since the end of the 19th century, and thus a foreshadowing of the outbreak of the First World War and the Depression. Already in the silent film era, there were several films depicting or referring to the disaster. Later productions include EA Dupont’s Atlantic (1929; in both German and English versions), Werner Klingler and Herbert Selpin’s German Titanic (1943), Jean Negulesco’s Titanic (1953), Roy Ward Baker’s A Night to Remember (Titanic’s downfall, 1958) and the television film SOS Titanic (1979). As a cinema success, all have been surpassed by James Cameron’s Titanic (1997). Source: Store norske lexikon Sørensen says he does not know the company’s insurance system. But he is generally critical of the fact that some players in the experience industry can take risks. – I am worried that some of these actors are taking greater risks than we had accepted in oil and gas or in the navy. Among those missing is British businessman and adventurer Hamish Harding. He wrote on Facebook that this would be the first, and perhaps only, dive to the “Titanic” this year. Hamish Harding is among those missing. The picture was taken before the dive down to the wreck of “Titanic” Photo: Facebook/Private He also wrote that the crew was experienced, and that some had over 30 dives down to the wreck. OceanGate tells the AP news agency that they are now trying to get hold of a vessel that can be remotely controlled down to 6,000 meters to search for the submarine. A battle against the clock It is unknown what has happened to “Titan”. But one theory is that he may have gotten stuck, either in wreckage or in a net. But even though it has been two days since the last sign of life from the submarine, there is hope of finding the missing alive, says Jannicke Mikkelsen, who usually works as a photographer for news in Svalbard, but who now helps Harding’s family with handle media. – No wreckage has been found. This indicates that the submarine has not been destroyed by the great pressure at a depth of 3,800 metres. Then there is hope that they will live, she says, But the rescue team is now fighting a battle against the clock. If the safety system fails, the submarine can be pulled by the current and become difficult to find. In addition, they can lose oxygen. The hope is that the craft will eventually float up to the surface, says Sørensen. – Then there is greater hope, even if you are on the open sea. But it doesn’t look promising. I am very worried about how this outcome might turn out.
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Professor critical of submarine expedition to “Titanic” – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
