Titanic tourist submersible goes missing

[Susie]

I am really struggling with the juxtaposition of this story with, e.g., this one, which is also on CNN's home page right now:

Dozens feared drowned after migrant boat sinks off Spain’s Canary Islands:  www.cnn.com/2023/06/22/europe/canary-islands-migrant-boat-intl/index.html (@ mentions in the article)

I know we have already thoroughly hashed out the hubris and stupidity and waste of the $250k that each passenger (x4?) blew on this passion project to see the Titanic, even before the millions being spent now on SAR.  But damn, if just a little of that could be redirected, how many total maritime tragedies could we prevent.

ETA:  yes, this:  www.cnn.com/2023/06/20/opinions/titanic-submersible-lost-interest-filipovic/index.html

[krystee]

@villainv maybe he meant the largest piece would be a Coke can, but there would be bunches of them, and I misunderstood. He made it sound like because of the small size, debris would be unlikely to be found unless it was right near the Titanic site—but sounds like that’s where it was, so that’s good.

[Velar Fricative]

Jun 22, 2023 13:14:59 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

www.tiktok.com/@lousyshirtshop/video/7246940071675301163

Anyone a Jeopardy aficionado? Looks like Sam Buttrey dodged a bullet. 

I remember him talking about missing his chance because of a family wedding during the recent Masters tournament. Whew.

[sillygoosegirl]

Jun 22, 2023 12:18:55 GMT -5 @villainv said:

Jun 22, 2023 12:07:11 GMT -5 cous0226 said:

Sorry what does this mean? Does it mean the sub exploded? Thanks

Likely that it imploded from the extreme pressure. So hopefully that means the end was swift for the people on board. But in general any wreckage means they’re likely not alive since I highly doubt there were any survival aids on board (ie: life preservers, life rafts, water rations, etc).

I imagine the wreckage should have clues as to what happened to cause the sun to break up. Maybe we’ll hear about that in the press conference, but it might require analysis that will take more time.

Not to mention that if they were deep (like if they imploded due to pressure), the water pressure wouldn't have been survivable even if they somehow survived the implosion. Even if they were deep but somehow not so deep the water would crush them, you can only surface so fast or you die from the gasses inside your body depressurizing too fast. I mean, I'm pretty sure you can die from surfacing too fast from scuba diving depths. They'd have had to be quite close to the surface for rafts or whatnot to even be useful, I would think.

[Velar Fricative]

Watching the press conference now. They found the submersible's tail cone 1,600 feet from the Titanic wreck, along with other debris. 


Per the NYT: The debris found today was “consistent with catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber” in the submersible, Mauger said.

[Susie]

Listening to the press conference, it sounds like they've found a number of pieces -- nose cone, etc., that would be pretty readily identifiable. It's being described as a catastrophic implosion 1600 feet off the bow of the Titanic, in an area with smooth bottom and no other debris/Titanic wreckage. No answers yet on how/why/when, but I hope the fairly conclusive ID brings some closure to the families.

[pixy0stix]

I clinically want to know what happened to the bodies. Which I feel bad about admitting.

[cattledogkisses]

Well. That’s what you get when your viewing port is only designed to withstand a small fraction of the pressure that it’s actually subjected to at that depth.

Honestly, the fact that this thing made any successful voyages was incredible.

[cattledogkisses]

Jun 22, 2023 14:24:31 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I clinically want to know what happened to the bodies. Which I feel bad about admitting.

I’m not a medical person but my best guess is that they would have been instantly crushed to death by the immense pressure. 

[quesyrah]

Jun 22, 2023 14:38:21 GMT -5 cattledogkisses said:

Jun 22, 2023 14:24:31 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I clinically want to know what happened to the bodies. Which I feel bad about admitting.

I’m not a medical person but my best guess is that they would have been instantly crushed to death by the immense pressure. 

This is what I’ve seen online as well. They were basically crushed and they aren’t going to recover bodies.

[jennybee1018]

Eek this tiktok gives a simulation of what it probably looked like when it imploded 😬 (Just the sub)!

vt.tiktok.com/ZSLk12H3P/

[goldengirlz]

Jun 22, 2023 11:31:08 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

Just saw the update. I didn't realize I was hoping for a miracle, but my reaction was sadness. Even though I know it is probably better for it to be quick than for them to have suffered while waiting for oxygen to run out.

I had no hope whatsoever but I still feel a bit sad, despite not being at all sympathetic, if that makes sense. Especially because one guy was so young. I also feel for the families, but I’m glad they get to have closure, and the comfort that at least their loved ones didn’t suffer.

[underwaterrhymes]

Jun 22, 2023 15:25:51 GMT -5 jennybee1018 said:

Eek this tiktok gives a simulation of what it probably looked like when it imploded 😬 (Just the sub)!

vt.tiktok.com/ZSLk12H3P/

I mean, I guess if they couldn’t have been rescued, this was really the best case scenario because it was fast, but holy fuck.

[anodyne]

Jun 22, 2023 14:40:52 GMT -5 quesyrah said:

Jun 22, 2023 14:38:21 GMT -5 cattledogkisses said:

I’m not a medical person but my best guess is that they would have been instantly crushed to death by the immense pressure. 

This is what I’ve seen online as well. They were basically crushed and they aren’t going to recover bodies.

If I were a big enough fanatic of something that I would spend that amount of money and taken that big of a risk, I think I would be just fine with it being my final resting place.

[AAM2012]

So how well do we think those contracts signed will hold up to the lawsuits that are likely forthcoming?

[wanderingback]

But I’m guessing we/the family are never going to know exactly what happened, correct? Everyone saying that they died quickly, so speculation is that things were just business as usual, they were enjoying themselves and then in an instant the pressure crushed everything?

[Deleted]

Jun 22, 2023 16:10:37 GMT -5 AAM2012 said:

So how well do we think those contracts signed will hold up to the lawsuits that are likely forthcoming?

I’m not a lawyer obviously, but I’ve heard that those release forms don’t absolve companies of gross negligence?

[smock]

Jun 22, 2023 16:17:48 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

But I’m guessing we/the family are never going to know exactly what happened, correct? Everyone saying that they died quickly, so speculation is that things were just business as usual, they were enjoying themselves and then in an instant the pressure crushed everything?

If they were 2 miles deep in the ocean, any breech of the hull would cause a catastrophic failure in milliseconds because of the pressure. It sounds like it likely happened only and hour and a half into the journey on Sunday, when the surface vessel lost contact with the submersible.

I've heard unconfirmed reports that some of the final messages from Titan indicated that they were descending at too fast of a rate, so there might have been tense moments onboard. But once the hull breached, they would have died instantly. 

[spindle92]

The conspiracy theory crowd is out in full force on tiktok and my god they are stupid.
Trying to say how it's a coincidence that they NOW found this debris after 4 days and how really it's all just a cover-up - but when asked "a cover-up for what?" - and its pure silence.

[underwaterrhymes]

@@@

The aunt of the 19-year old / sister of the Pakistani businessman is saying that the teen didn’t want to go, but he went because it was Father’s Day and he wanted to be with his dad. 😭

[eb777888]

Jun 22, 2023 16:33:37 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

@@@

The aunt of the 19-year old / sister of the Pakistani businessman is saying that the teen didn’t want to go, but he went because it was Father’s Day and he wanted to be with his dad. 😭

I read that on HIH and it is making me so sad. That poor kid.

[wanderingback]

Jun 22, 2023 16:32:43 GMT -5 smock said:

Jun 22, 2023 16:17:48 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

But I’m guessing we/the family are never going to know exactly what happened, correct? Everyone saying that they died quickly, so speculation is that things were just business as usual, they were enjoying themselves and then in an instant the pressure crushed everything?

If they were 2 miles deep in the ocean, any breech of the hull would cause a catastrophic failure in milliseconds because of the pressure. It sounds like it likely happened only and hour and a half into the journey on Sunday, when the surface vessel lost contact with the submersible.

I've heard unconfirmed reports that some of the final messages from Titan indicated that they were descending at too fast of a rate, so there might have been tense moments onboard. But once the hull breached, they would have died instantly. 

Yes I understand that that the actually change in pressure would cause the end to be super quick. But I was wondering like you mentioned were they experiencing anything before like mentioned such as going "off course" or descending super fast or rough waters or anything like that. Like will the families ever know what actually happened.

[curbsideprophet]

Jun 22, 2023 16:33:37 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

@@@

The aunt of the 19-year old / sister of the Pakistani businessman is saying that the teen didn’t want to go, but he went because it was Father’s Day and he wanted to be with his dad. 😭

@@@
An article on this

www.nbcnews.com/news/world/titanic-submersible-shahwood-suleman-family-tragedy-rcna90678

[litebright]

Jun 22, 2023 16:46:36 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

Jun 22, 2023 16:32:43 GMT -5 smock said:

If they were 2 miles deep in the ocean, any breech of the hull would cause a catastrophic failure in milliseconds because of the pressure. It sounds like it likely happened only and hour and a half into the journey on Sunday, when the surface vessel lost contact with the submersible.

I've heard unconfirmed reports that some of the final messages from Titan indicated that they were descending at too fast of a rate, so there might have been tense moments onboard. But once the hull breached, they would have died instantly. 

Yes I understand that that the actually change in pressure would cause the end to be super quick. But I was wondering like you mentioned were they experiencing anything before like mentioned such as going "off course" or descending super fast or rough waters or anything like that. Like will the families ever know what actually happened.

I gather from the news conference that the on-site vehicles will "document the scene", meaning there will be photo and video evidence of the wreckage. But I doubt that, say, agencies like NTSB would be involved in something like this where you'd get some kind of public report with conclusions or best guesses as to what happened. I suppose it's possible that there are experts who could figure out just from the wreckage pictures/video what exactly failed, but that seems like a long shot. If the viewing port wasn't rated for the depth, I'm sure that there were other components that weren't, and it could have been any of them. 

I'm thinking of disasters like major airline crashes or space shuttles where they literally have as many pieces as they can recover, laying out in huge warehouses to reconstruct the ship and trace how the damage relates to specific physical/system failures. That's not going to be an option here, I can't imagine that they will bring anything back to the surface. 

My guess is that any attempt at reconstruction of events is probably going to be related to legal action, where they will have depositions/testimony under oath from employees/people who were on the surface boat and will be required to say on the record their recollection of what happened. 

[noodleoo]

Jun 22, 2023 16:33:37 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

@@@

The aunt of the 19-year old / sister of the Pakistani businessman is saying that the teen didn’t want to go, but he went because it was Father’s Day and he wanted to be with his dad. 😭

Ugh I really didn’t need to know that. Poor kid and his poor surviving family.

[AJL]

Jun 22, 2023 14:24:31 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I clinically want to know what happened to the bodies. Which I feel bad about admitting.

Essentially liquification. But it happened instantaneously and they had no time at all to register what was happening.

Mythbusters did an episode on this. It's all a simulation but still kind of gory.

[aurora]

I imagine they could estimate how deep it was when it imploded by how far apart the debris are (for example, if very close together it would have been near the bottom), but I also assume we'll never know exactly what happened. I mean, even with hundreds of eyewitness accounts there was still confusion about the Titanic (e.g., whether or not the ship split in two as mentioned earlier in this thread, whether the iceberg hit more in the side or bottom).

[rubytue]

Jun 22, 2023 16:56:14 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

Jun 22, 2023 16:33:37 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

@@@

The aunt of the 19-year old / sister of the Pakistani businessman is saying that the teen didn’t want to go, but he went because it was Father’s Day and he wanted to be with his dad. 😭

@@@
An article on this

www.nbcnews.com/news/world/titanic-submersible-shahwood-suleman-family-tragedy-rcna90678

Fine. *sigh* Make me feel there may be some tragedy here. 

[neverfstop]

I thought it was 2 crew & 3 passenger? Also, the corporate statement is a little cringe...I'd like to see their "protecting the ocean" credentials

-----------
AXIOS
The pilot was OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush. The passengers were British businessman Hamish Harding; Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French maritime expert; and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman.

An OceanGate statement says: "These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans."

[neverfstop]

And in other billionaire news...I assume they are joking but with these two, who knows?

www.bbc.com/news/business-65981876

Two of the world's most high-profile technology billionaires - Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg - have agreed to fight each other in a cage match.

Mr Musk posted a message on his social media platform Twitter that he was "up for a cage fight" with Mr Zuckerberg.

Mr Zuckerberg, the boss of Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta, then posted a screenshot of Mr Musk's tweet with the caption "send me location".