Search for the submarine "Titan": the France sends the "Atalanta" to help

The France sends a boat and its state-of-the-art robot to try to find the small submarine Titan, missing in the Atlantic Ocean since Sunday, June 19. The five people on board had gone to explore the wreck of the Titanic, which has been lying about 3,800 metres deep off Canada and the United States since 1912. Planes and boats continue their search, in very complicated conditions.

The submersible "Titan", disappeared Sunday while it was on an excursion around the wreck of the "Titanic", in the Atlantic. AP

Text by: RFI Follow

Advertising

Read more

The French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer) is appealing to the Atalanta, which has been diverted from its current mission to reach the site, in the North Atlantic, where the Titan was lost. It was Hervé Berville, Secretary of State for the Sea, who announced it.

This French ship is equipped with a remotely operated underwater robot dedicated to the great depths, Victor 6000. "The system will continue in conjunction with the NATO coordination centre and we are in contact with the American authorities," Berville said.

The Atlantic Alliance has indicated that its relief equipment cannot go beyond 2,000 meters deep, but that it can make available its expertise and analysis capabilities, as reported by our correspondent in Washington, Guillaume Naudin.

The French equipment is expected on the scene Wednesday around 20 p.m. (Newfoundland time, Canada – 22:<> GMT). The operators of the robot are also on their way, they have left Toulon and must arrive in Newfoundland in Canada Wednesday morning, French time.

Until then, the research continues. The Titan submarine is 6.5 meters long and 2.5 meters high. It is a bit like the rescue workers looking for a small bus in the middle of the ocean, in an area of 13,000 km², the equivalent of a country as big as Montenegro.

A spokesman for OceanGate Expeditions, the American company organizing this memorial underwater trip to the mythical wreck of the Titanic, assured "explore and mobilize all options to bring the crew back safely".

Ifremer has diverted its ship Atalante, equipped with an underwater robot for great depth, to the site of the North Atlantic where disappeared a submarine visiting the wreck of the Titanic, announced, this Tuesday, Hervé Berville, Secretary of State for the Sea.https://t.co/6yg9lEWJ5q

— Anne-Cécile Juillet (@AnneCeJuillet) June 20, 2023

Experts are studying two scenarios: either the submarine had a communication problem, and is currently on the surface of the water, that is, it floats somewhere on the ocean, or it is still underwater and may have sunk at a depth of nearly 4,000 meters.

In the latter case, the most worrying, the research becomes very complicated. Sonars, small devices that can recognize sounds underwater, are located in the area. They somehow listen to the sea in the hope of spotting a signal from the missing submarine.

For now, the U.S. Coast Guard says the searches remain fruitless. American and Canadian aircraft patrol over the area. Not to mention the boats already on site or going there, such as the French Atalante.

But rescue doesn't have much time. The Titan can provide oxygen to its occupants for another "about 40 hours," the U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday around 17 p.m. Universal Time. The five people on board have enough air to breathe, at the latest, until Thursday.

So it's a race against time, assuming that the carbon hull of the submersible didn't encounter a problem, that the structure wasn't damaged by underwater pressure, and that all five occupants are still alive.

Hamish Harding, a British businessman and adventurer, is said to be on board with Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman Dawood, 19, French Titanic specialist Paul-Henry Nargeolet and Stockton Rush, boss of OceanGate Inc.

>> Read also: A tourist submarine visiting the wreck of the missing "Titanic"

NewsletterReceive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

Share:

Read on on the same topics:

• Oceans
• France
• Tourism
• Canada
• United States