Authorities conducting an investigation into the ill-fated Titanic submersible will analyze voice recordings and other data obtained from its mothership, according to reports. The purpose behind this is to understand the circumstances surrounding the incident and ascertain if any criminal actions were involved.
On Sunday, the US Coast Guard said that it has convened a Marine Board of Investigation to investigate the catastrophic implosion. This board represents the “highest level of investigation the Coast Guard conducts”, Captain Jason Neubauer, the chief investigator of the US Coast Guard, said. The panel will also be making suggestions “to the proper authorities to pursue civil or criminal sanctions as necessary,” Neubauer further said.
Identifying the Mistakes and Those Responsible
Kathy Fox, the Chairwoman of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, told CNN that investigators from the board visited the Polar Prince, the mothership associated with the OceanGate Titan sub, on Saturday.
Their purpose was to collect data from the vessel’s voyage data recorder and other systems that hold valuable information.
According to Fox, the agency wants to “find out what happened and why and to find out what needs to change to reduce the chance or the risk of such occurrences in the future.”
However, she stressed that the investigation’s aim was not to assign blame, even though she said that voice recordings “could be useful in our investigation.”
On Saturday, Superintendent Kent Osmond of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said that authorities are actively assessing whether the situation merits a criminal investigation.
“Such an investigation will proceed only if our examination of the circumstances indicate criminal, federal or provincial laws may possibly have been broken,” he told reporters.
The OceanGate Expeditions’ Titan submersible, with five occupants on board, embarked on its descent into the Atlantic Ocean towards the Titanic wreckage at a depth of 12,500 feet on June 18.
The five passengers onboard comprised two billionaires, a pioneer, the CEO and founder of the company, and a young college student.
Lots of Things Still Unclear
The five people aboard the submersible were sealed inside using 17 bolts, which could only be opened from the outside.
It was estimated that they had approximately 96 hours of oxygen supply upon submersion. According to experts, the submersible had descended to a depth of nearly 10,000 feet, approximately one hour and 45 minutes into the expedition, when communication was lost.
Initial reports of repeated underwater sounds described as both “banging” and “tapping” early on raised optimism but were later determined to be unrelated to the missing crew.
On Thursday, the US Coast Guard reported the debris of the submarine had been found on the ocean floor, located approximately 1,600 feet away from the front of the Titanic. The discovery suggested that the submarine experienced a “catastrophic implosion.”
Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that the bodies of the five people aboard the submarine, namely Sulaiman Dawood (19), Shahzada Dawood (48), Hamish Harding (58), Paul-Henri Nargeolet (77), and Stockton Rush (61), can ever be recovered.
In 2018, the Marine Technology Society sent a letter to Stockton Rush, the head of OceanGate, stressing the crucial significance of subjecting the company’s prototypes to thorough third-party testing before venturing to extreme depths. The purpose of this recommendation was to ensure the safety of the passengers involved.
However, it is now being reported by several people including experts that OceanGate’s Titan sub was never safe and had flouted several rules.
