Titanic submarine update: Details about design of sub may reveal how it imploded as presumed human remains found

Shahzada Dawood, 48, was vice-chairman of one of Pakistan’s largest conglomerates, Engro Corporation, with investments in fertilisers, vehicle manufacturing, energy and digital technologies.

Mr Dawood was aboard the Titan submersible with his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood, when it imploded on Sunday 18, June.

Mr Dawood was interested in wildlife photography, gardening and exploring natural habitats.

Mr Dawood’s wife, Christine Dawood, said the expedition to the Titanic meant the world for Shahzada and Suleman, who she described as true explorers who bonded over their love for adventure.

“These two best friends embarked upon this last voyage, their final journey together.”

French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, was director of underwater research at a company that owns the rights to the Titanic wreck and recovers artifacts.

A former commander in the French navy, he was both a deep diver and a mine-sweeper. After retiring from the navy, he led the first recovery expedition to the Titanic in 1987 and several more, becoming a leading authority on the wreck site.

OceanGate described Mr Nargeolet as the “Titanic’s greatest explorer”.

The former naval officer was born in Chamonix, France, but spent his early years in Africa with his parents. He was married to American newsreader Michelle Marsh until she died in 2017.

He completed 35 dives in the submersible. In a 2020 interview, he spoke of the dangers of deep diving, saying: “I am not afraid to die, I think it will happen one day.”

The cost of the unprecedented search for the missing Titan submersible will easily stretch into the millions of dollars, experts said Friday.

There’s no other comparable ocean search, especially with so many countries and even commercial enterprises being involved in recent times, said Norman Polmar, a naval historian, analyst and author based in Virginia.

The aircraft, alone, are expensive to operate, and the Pentagon has put the hourly cost at tens of thousands of dollars. Turboprop P-3 Orion and jet-powered P-8 Poseidon sub hunters, along with C-130 Hercules, were all utilized in the search.

Some agencies can seek reimbursements. But the U.S. Coast Guard — whose bill alone will hit the millions of dollars — is generally prohibited by federal law from collecting reimbursement pertaining to any search or rescue service, said Stephen Koerting, a U.S. attorney in Maine who specializes in maritime law.

“The Coast Guard, as a matter of both law and policy, does not seek to recover the costs associated with search and rescue from the recipients of those services,” the Coast Guard said Friday in a statement.

Several experts have said that the design of the Titan submersible may not have been as suitable as other designs when taking deep dives to the Titanic wreckage.

Chris Roman, a professor at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography told Associated Press that the elongated shape of the Titan could have increased the external pressure.

Mr Roman said the sphere is “the perfect shape” because water pressure is equal on all sides.

The sub imploded on Sunday, 18 June with five people aboard.

That implosion could have been caused by tiny fissures in the hull of the sub, according to Jasper Graham-Jones, an associate professor of mechanical and marine engineering at the University of Plymouth.

Each time the sub went down to the Titanic, tiny cracks would have formed.

“This might be small and undetectable to start but would soon become critical and produce rapid and uncontrollable growth,” Mr Graham-Jones said.

Hamish Harding, 58, was a British billionaire, aviation tycoon and explorer.

Mr Harding is among the five people who died on a failed submarine expedition.

“He was one of a kind and we adored him. He was a passionate explorer – whatever the terrain – who lived his life for his family, his business and for the next adventure,” a statement from Mr Harding’s family reads.

In 2021, he went on a record-setting voyage to Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, which at 36,000 feet below sea level is the deepest part of the ocean.

“What he achieved in his lifetime was truly remarkable and if we can take any small consolation from this tragedy, it’s that we lost him doing what he loved.”

Harding also made record-breaking trips to the South Pole alongside Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the oldest person ever to reach the pole, and Harding’s son Giles, 12, the youngest to ever accomplish the feat.

Images of the wreckage recovered from the Titan submersible at the bottom of the North Atlantic appear to confirm the theory that the vessel suffered a massive implosion under the pressure of the ocean.

Jonas Mureika, a professor of physics at Loyola Marymount University, tells The Independent that calling the implosion “catastrophic” is referring to the intensity and speed of what took place.

“The pressure at that depth (3.8 km) is incredibly high, about 400 times atmospheric pressure. That’s 6,000 pounds per square inch acting on the submarine – atmospheric pressure is roughly 15 pounds per square inch,” he noted in an email.

Gustaf Kilander and Andrea Blanco report:

Edward Cassano, Pelagic Research Services CEO, held back tears as he described the moment the Titan submersible search and rescue turned “into a recovery.”

Just hours after arriving, Pelagic Research Services found debris from the imploded sub and relayed the information to the victim’s families.

Mr Cassano was speaking to press at the conclusion of the search, when he said: “We have to apologise – there are a lot of emotions, and people are tired.”

Pelagic Research Services’s remotely-operated vehicle (ROV), Odysseus, was flown-in to the site of the Titanic wreckage to assist in the international search for any sign of the five passengers or the Titan.

Odysseus is one of the few ROVs that can reach the depths where the Titanic wreckage sits at 12,500 feet (3,700 metres). Until Odysseus was able to reach the ocean floor, the US Coast Guard and US Navy were unable to determine where the sub went or if it had surely imploded.

Lew Palter, the actor best known for his role as Isidor Straus in James Cameron’s 1997 epic Titanic, died aged 94 on 21 May.

Palter died on 21 May of lung cancer at his home in Los Angeles, his daughter, Catherine Palter, told The Hollywood Reporter.