Why Titan’s implosion? Ignorance. Who will lead the investigation? Uncertainty | World news

A day after revelations that the Titan submersible imploded, officials searched the ocean floor for evidence and on Friday came with tough questions about who is responsible for investigating the international disaster.

A formal inquiry has not been launched because maritime agencies are still busy searching the area where the ship went down, the US Coast Guard said on Friday. The wreckage is about 12,500 feet (3,810 meters) underwater, hundreds of feet away from the Titanic wreckage that is on its way to exploration. The US Coast Guard led the initial search and rescue operation.

“I know there are still many questions about how, why and when this happened. Those are the questions we’re going to get as much information as we can about now,” Rear Adm. John Mauger of the First Coast Guard District said Wednesday.

ALSO READ | Titan submersible may have imploded and run, thought ‘he didn’t know what happened’: Expert

It was not clear Friday who would be authorized to lead what is sure to be a complex investigation involving several countries. OceanGate Expeditions, the company that owns and operates Titan, is based in the US but the submersible is registered in the Bahamas. OceanGate was originally located in Everett, Washington, but closed when the Titan was found. Meanwhile, Titan’s mother ship, Polar Prince, is from Canada, and the people on board are from England, Pakistan, France, and the US

How research will proceed is also complicated by the fact that the world of deep sea exploration is not well regulated. Deep-sea voyages like those offered by OceanGate are scrutinized less than companies that launch humans into space, notes Salvatore Mercogliano, a history professor at Campbell University in North Carolina that focuses on maritime history and policy.

The Titan is not registered as a US ship or with international agencies that regulate safety. And it is not classified by the marine industry group that sets standards on matters such as ship construction.

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who was piloting the Titan when it was pulled, complained that regulations could stall progress.

“Having something external come up to speed on every innovation before putting it into real-world testing is counterproductive to rapid innovation,” Rush wrote in a blog post on his company’s website.

Bob Ballard, a member of the research team that found the wreck of the Titanic in 1985, called the lack of certification by outside experts “the smoking gun” in Titan’s implosion.

“We’ve done thousands and thousands and thousands of dives … to these depths and we’ve never had an incident,” Ballard said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“… The smoking gun is that this is the first time by an unclassified ship,” he said.

One question that seems to be at least partially resolved is when the implosion is likely to occur. After the Titan went missing on Sunday, the Navy went back and analyzed its acoustic data and found an “anomaly” consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general area of ​​where the ship was operating when communications were lost, A US official said. Navy officer.

The Navy passed the information on to the Coast Guard, which continued its search because the data was inconclusive, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a suspicious acoustic search program.

READ MORE: Titanic director James Cameron reacts to the ‘Titan’ incident that killed five people

Condolences for and tributes to the dead have poured in from around the world. Killed in the implosion were Rush, two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood; British adventurer Hamish Harding; and Titanic author Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

The Titan launched at 8 a.m. Sunday, and was reported late Sunday afternoon about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. Louis. John’s, Newfoundland. Rescuers moved boats, planes and other equipment to the site of the loss.

Any remaining hope of finding the crew alive was dashed early Thursday, when the submersible’s expected 96-hour air supply ended and the Coast Guard announced that debris had been found roughly 1,600 feet (488 meters) from the Titanic.

“The debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber,” Mauger said.

Violations of lawsuits are expected, but their submission will be complex and it is unclear how successful they will be. Prosecutors will run into the problem of establishing a lawsuit, which can be tricky, as will the investigation, said Steve Flynn, a retired Coast Guard officer and director of Northeastern University’s Global Resilience Institute. .

The arrest happened “basically in a no man’s land,” Flynn said.

“Essentially no oversight,” Flynn said. “To some extent, they use the negligence of the court to avoid supervision.”

James Cameron, who directed the blockbuster movie “Titanic” and has done many dives into the iconic shipwreck, told the BBC that he knew a “catastrophic event” had happened as soon as he heard about the submersible. lost navigation and communications in the field at the same time.

“For me, there’s no doubt,” Cameron said. “There was no search. When they finally got an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) down that could do the depth, they found it within hours. Maybe within minutes.”

The cost of the search would easily stretch into the millions of dollars for the US Coast Guard alone. The Canadian Coast Guard, the US Navy and other agencies and private companies are also quick to provide resources and expertise.

There is no other giant search like it, especially with so many countries and even commercial companies participating, said Norman Polmar, a naval historian, analyst and author based in Virginia.

Some companies may seek reimbursements. But the U.S. Coast Guard is generally prohibited by federal law from receiving compensation related to any search or rescue operation,” Stephen Koerting, a U.S. attorney in Maine who specializes in maritime law.

At least 46 people successfully traveled on the OceanGate cruise to the Titanic wreck site in 2021 and 2022, according to letters the company filed with a US District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, that overseeing matters involving the Titanic.

But questions about the submersible’s safety were raised by both former crew and former passengers.

One of the company’s first customers, meanwhile, put the water that he produced on the site two years ago to suicide.

“Imagine a metal tube a few meters long with a metal sheet for the floor. You can’t wait. You can’t kneel. Everyone sits close or on top of each other,” said Arthur Loibl, a retired businessman and adventurer from Germany. “You can’t be claustrophobic.”