By Commodore Anil Jai Singh, IN ( Retd)
The tragic sinking of the Tiran, a small submersible, with five people on board 400 miles east of Newfoundland in the north Atlantic, has raised many questions about the risks involved in such ‘adventure tourism’ in an unfamiliar and unforgiving environment.
Owned by OceanGate, a US company, this submersible took people down to a depth of almost 4000 metres to view the wreck of the Titanic, the famous passenger liner which sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage from the UK to the US. In addition to the CEO of the company who was also piloting the craft, the other four people on board included a 77-year old ex French Navy Captain also known as Mr Titanic for the number of times he had visited the wreck and three billionaire businessmen, each of whom had paid U$ 250, 000 for this eight hour ‘voyage’ into the depths of the ocean. Lowered from a mother ship on surface, the submersible was expected to take about two hours to descend to the required depth and a similar duration to ascend to the surface.
This was the first voyage of 2023 and as per media reports, was being undertaken in a narrow weather window available during one of the worst winters in the Newfoundland region. The Titan was lowered by the mother ship as scheduled at about 8 AM on that fateful Sunday (18 June 2023) and apparently lost contact with the mother ship after a little over an hour, which would indicate that she had probably reached the halfway mark in her dive. However, it is yet not clear as to when the mother ship raised an alarm and sought help from the shore authorities. It is understood that the first message was received ashore sometime in the afternoon, following which a massive Search and Rescue operation was launched with US and Canadian naval and Coast Guard ships and helicopters being deployed with other ships in the vicinity also joining the search. However, despite this herculean effort, the Titan could not be located. The vessel was designed to carry oxygen for about 96 hours which would, under ideal conditions, have run out by Thursday morning (22 June), though in reality, perhaps much sooner.
Even though the search and rescue effort commenced on 18 June itself, there was no trace of the Titan till the afternoon of the 22nd by which time all hope of rescuing the passengers had disappeared. Later, on the 22nd, the US Navy reported that it had detected a sound, resembling an implosion on the 18th morning, soon after the Titan had lost contact. This provided the first indication of what might have led to its sinking. Subsequently, some debris of the Titan was also detected which indicated that it was probably an implosion that had occurred on board.
This event has given rise to many questions about the suitability of the vessel, the safety features incorporated on board, the inexperience of the passengers in an unfamiliar environment, the capability to carry out search and rescue operations at these extreme depths and the foolhardiness or ‘spirit of adventure’ of those venturing into the deep. The first step towards arriving at any definitive conclusion about the accident will be to salvage the remains of the submersible and to carry out a detailed forensic investigation. Prima facie, it does appear that the hull cracked at a certain depth while the submersible was descending due to a fault in the hull leading to its crushing or the vessel lost control either due to a power failure or due to flooding, and plummeted to the seabed leading to the crushing of the hull. These would probably have been the sounds of the implosion reported by the US authorities.
Comparisons are being drawn about this incident with life on board submarines, but the only commonality between a submersible such as the Titan and a naval submarine is that both operate below the surface of the sea. Naval submarines are combat platforms operated by highly trained crews and have extensive knowledge of handling the platform, understanding the environment and reacting to emergencies on board. Submarines operate at depths usually less than 400 metres, have in-built redundancies against the failure of critical equipment and their crews are trained extensively in various escape and rescue procedures. Despite this, most submarines have sunk with all hands on board and no survivors. Recent examples are the sinking of the Indonesian submarine KRI Nanggala in April 2021 and the Argentinian submarine ARA San Juan in June 2017. The existing submarine search and rescue equipment with most navies is designed to rescue personnel from these depths and could not have been used to rescue the personnel on board the Titan.
There are many questions that have arisen as a consequence of this accident. These will need to be examined and thereafter addressed with an appropriate regulatory framework being put in place to prevent other ‘adventurers’ from meeting the same fate. Infact, a thorough enquiry should be conducted to establish whether this vessel had been cleared by any classification authority to operate at such depths and that too with human beings on board. Was there any hull inspection carried out to certify the hull integrity to dive to these depths? What were the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) being followed on board or on the mother ship to undertake such a venture, and was the crew trained to take the correct actions in the event of an emergency, such as the one that tragically unfolded on that fateful Sunday.
The first glaring anomaly highlighting the unsuitability of the Titan was that the vessel’s personnel on board were bolted from the outside thus precluding any possibility of their being able to open a hatch from within. In the absence of any external search and rescue equipment being available, the only possible way to escape a sunken submarine is to open the top hatch from within the vessel and escape into the water, however futile that may actually be. At depths of thousands of meters, it is impossible for the human body to sustain the water pressure and secondly, in the absence of any means of decompression enroute to the top, the extensive physiological and physical damage to the body would be fatal. That notwithstanding, in this case, these five people were in a sealed coffin with no possibility of escape. How this could have been permitted needs to be thoroughly investigated and those responsible should be criminally charged.
The Titan also did not have an emergency indicating beacon which should be mandatory for all vessels operating below the surface to facilitate the search and rescue effort. The beacon is released in the event of a mishap and is tethered to the vessel as it rises to the surface and emits a powerful light which assists in locating the distressed vessel and saves precious time in the search and rescue effort where time is of the essence as the oxygen on board depletes rapidly. Beacons also have a communication cable enabling two-way communication between the sunken submarine and the search effort on surface.
Five people with three lacking any knowledge or experience of either the vessel or the surrounding environment, sitting on the deck without a proper seating arrangement for eight hours with no space to move around does not make for a very comfortable journey. Hence a degree of fatigue amongst untrained passengers would be inevitable. Add to that the panic they would have felt when the emergency occurred, and had they not died instantly, would not have survived long with the limited oxygen on board and the extreme cold at the bottom of the sea. . Hence the possibility of rescuing any of the five alive was practically ruled out by the end of the second day.
Perhaps what is most surprising is the fact that the mother ship did not report the loss of communication immediately. Apparently this was not the first time that communication had been lost; it had occurred on an earlier voyage as well. Had the ship reported the loss of communication in time, the authorities ashore would have been more alert to any unusual sounds.
This voyage was not the first one undertaken by the Titan. There are videos on YouTube of this vessel with personnel on board and their seemingly cavalier approach; these had obviously not been adequately flagged by the authorities but henceforth should be paid more heed to.
These are just some of the questions that have arisen based on reports in the media. As more facts come to light such as why a monitor was screwed into the pressure hull or the efficacy of a video game console being used to pilot and control the submersible, and the formal investigation leads to logical conclusions, a clearer picture will emerge of this terrible tragedy.
Human beings are exploratory by nature and it is unlikely that this incident will deter future adventurers from undertaking hazardous activities without understanding the full implications or being familiar with the environment. It is therefore essential that any human exploration, at least below the surface of the sea, which is a totally unfamiliar and unforgiving environment, is not permitted until detailed procedures and stringent regulations are not introduced. These may not assure 100% safety but will go a long way in mitigating the risks associated with such ventures.
The author is a veteran submariner and is the Vice President of the Indian Maritime Foundation.
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