US and Canadian officials begin the process of investigating the cause of the deadly Titan submarine explosion, while they grapple with the question of who was responsible to determine how the tragedy unfolded.
The US Coast Guard said on Friday that a formal investigation had not yet been launched as maritime agencies were still busy searching the area where the ship capsized, killing all five people aboard. The wreckage was located at a depth of approximately 12,500 feet (3,810 m) underwater, several hundred feet from the wreckage of the Titanic that it was intended to locate.
The US Coast Guard led the initial search and rescue operation, a major international effort that likely cost millions of dollars.
It was not entirely clear on Friday who would have the authority to lead the complex investigation involving multiple countries. Oceangate Expeditions, the company that owns and operates the Titan, is based in the US but the submersible was registered in the Bahamas. Oceangate is located in Everett, Washington, but was closed after the discovery of Titan. Meanwhile, Titan’s mother ship, Polar Prince, was from Canada, and those killed were from England, Pakistan, France and the US.
The US Coast Guard has declared the loss of the Titan submarine a “major maritime casualty” and the Coast Guard will lead the investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday. NTSB spokesman Peter Knudsen said the information was provided by Coast Guard officials to the agency’s senior management, and the NTSB has joined the investigation.
The Coast Guard has not confirmed whether it will lead. Coast Guard Headquarters said the Coast Guard 1st District in Boston would discuss future operations and plans, but did not say when. The First District did not respond to phone and email messages Friday seeking comment.
Meanwhile, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Friday it is launching an investigation into Polar Prince. Seventeen crew members and 24 other people were on board during the voyage to Titan.
Deep-sea investigations promise to be long and laborious, such is the nature of investigations in the ocean’s murky depths.
“It’s an incredibly unforgiving environment on the ocean floor,” said Rear Admiral John Mauger of the Coast Guard 1st District.
How the overall investigation will proceed is complicated by the fact that the world of deep-sea exploration is not well regulated. Salvatore Mercogliano, a history professor at Campbell University in North Carolina who focuses on maritime history and policy, said the deep-sea expeditions offered by Oceangate are less scrutinized than those of companies that send people into space.
Titan itself is likely to be a significant part of any investigation. Questions have been raised about whether the ship was destined for disaster because of its unorthodox design and its builder’s refusal to submit to an industry-standard independent investigation.
The Titan was not registered as a US ship or with international agencies regulating safety. And it was not classified by the marine industry group that sets standards on matters such as hull construction.
Oceangate CEO Stockton Rush, who was running the Titan at the time of its explosion, complained that the regulations could stall progress.
Rush wrote in a blog post on his company’s website, “The bane of rapid innovation is to have an outside entity up to speed on every innovation before putting it to real-world testing.”
One question that appears to have been at least partially resolved is when the eruption may have occurred. A senior American said that after the Titan was reported missing, the Navy went back and analyzed its acoustic data and found an “anomaly” on Sunday that could indicate an explosion or explosion in the ship’s normal area of operations if communication was lost. was in line with Naval officer.
The Navy passed the information on to the Coast Guard, which continued its search because the data was not considered conclusive, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive acoustic detection system.
Titan launched at 8 a.m. that day and was reportedly delayed about 435 miles (700 km) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland that afternoon. Rescue teams sent ships, aircraft and other equipment to the area.
Any hope that the crew might be found alive was dashed early Thursday when the Coast Guard announced that debris had been found near the Titanic.
Killed in the blast were two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Prince Dawood and his son Sulaiman Dawood; British adventurer Hamish Harding; and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargiolet.
A flurry of lawsuits are expected, but filing them will be complicated and it is unclear how successful they will be. The plaintiffs will face the problem of establishing jurisdiction, which could be difficult, as will the investigation, said Steve Flynn, a retired Coast Guard officer and director of Northeastern University’s Global Resilience Institute.
The explosion happened “basically in a regulatory no man’s land,” Flynn said.
“There was basically no oversight,” Flynn said.
James Cameron, who directed the blockbuster film “Titanic” and dived several times for the iconic ship’s wreck, told the BBC that as soon as he heard the submersible had lost navigation and communications, he knew there was a An “extremely destructive event” has occurred. at the same time.
Cameron said, “To me, there was no doubt about it.” There was no search. When they finally got an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) there that could probe the depth, they found it within a few hours. Maybe in a few minutes.”
In 2021 and 2022, at least 46 people have successfully traveled from Oceangate’s submersibles to the Titanic wreck site, according to papers filed by the company in the US District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, which oversees cases related to the Titanic wreck.
But the safety of the submersible was raised by both a former employee of the company and former passengers.
,
Associated Press Writer Lolita C. Baldor in Washington; Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; Holly Reimer in Concord, New Hampshire; David Sharp, in Portland, Maine; and Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed to this report.
