Officials Reveal Titan Sub's Final Message With Support Ship Just Moments Before Losing Contact
The Titan disaster in 2023, had the world's attention instantaneously. Social media, as well as news outlets, were flooded with various theories, about how the submersible met its fate. The Coast Guard is set to commence a hearing to understand what went wrong with the submersible during its voyage to the Titanic, PEOPLE reported.
Before the proceedings, some of the last messages sent by the Titan crew were presented in front of officials, to help them figure out the sequence of events that took place in the submersible on June 18, 2023.
The texts were exchanged between the Titan and its support ship, the Polar Prince, as part of the safety protocol, PEOPLE reported. The messages revealed that the five passengers faced communication problems but ultimately felt things were "all good here" before losing contact with their support ship.
The U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation officials showed these messages as part of a re-creation of the ill-fated dive, which they were ordered to do by the Titan Marine Board of Investigation, The Independent reported.
The re-creation revealed that the Titan began its descent from the Polar Prince off the coast of Canada around 9:20 a.m. local time on June 18, 2023, PEOPLE reported. For the first 40 minutes, routine messages were exchanged between both vessels. At around 10 a.m. an issue allegedly cropped up, as Titan crew stopped responding to queries raised by the Polar Prince crew.
The Polar Prince crew kept asking through messages if the Titan crew could see them on the display screen but received no response. After 15 minutes of urgent messages, the Titan crew got back to the Polar Prince crew, confirming that it had communication. Titan crew claimed that they had "lost system and chat settings" which caused the breakdown of communication.
The Polar Prince crew thereafter asked, "Status? Do you see Polar Prince on your display?" PEOPLE reported. Titan's crew responded in affirmative and added that it was "all good here" at 10:15 a.m. Nine minutes later the Titan crew updated the Polar Prince crew regarding their location claiming they were "east southeast [of] the bow." Officials believe this message implied that the Titan submersible was near the Titanic wreckage.
The Polar Prince crew again followed up with the inquiry regarding their visibility to Titan. The submersible's crew in return asked the Polar Prince crew whether they were also at the bow. The Polar Prince crew immediately replied, "Making our way there… your position jumps significantly with each ping."
Titan crew's last message arrived reportedly at 10:47 a.m. at a depth of about 3,350 meters and a pressure of 4,900 pounds per square inch. The Titan Crew messaged its support ship that they had "dropped two wts," referring to their weights, and then, the contact was lost.
On June 22, 2023, some wreckage of Titan submersible was found about 500 meters from the Titanic, PEOPLE reported. All the passengers aboard the submersible, British businessman, Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman Dawood, French diver and Titanic expert, Paul-Henry Nargeolet, and OceanGate CEO and co-founder, Richard Stockton Rush, reportedly died in the Titan implosion.
The officials have speculated that these messages were sent by Nargeolet on behalf of the Titan crew.
Attorney, Jane Shvets, representing OceanGate, the company behind Titan shared an opening statement before the start of the proceedings. "There are no words to ease the loss endured by the families impacted by this tragic incident," she said, "but we hope that this hearing will help shed light on the cause of the tragedy and prevent anything like this from happening again."
The hearing is aimed at reviewing "testimony from technical experts, crew members, and other relevant parties, and will examine evidence related to the submersible’s design, operation, and safety protocols" to know about the disaster, the Coast Guard stated, PEOPLE reported.