Titanic sub live updates: US Navy detected Titan’s likely implosion hours into dive; tributes paid to victims – latest news | Titanic sub incident

Tributes have poured in for the five people who are now believed to have been instantly killed in a “catastrophic implosion” of the Titan submersible during its dive to the Titanic.

On Thursday, after days of aerial and underwater searches, a robotic diving vehicle deployed from a Canadian ship discovered a debris field from the submersible Titan on the seabed 1,600 feet (488 metres) from the bow of the Titanic.

Five major fragments of the 22-foot (6.7-metre) Titan were located in the debris field left from its disintegration, including the vessel’s tail cone and two sections of the pressure hull, Coast Guard officials said.

“The debris field here is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vehicle,” Rear Admiral John Mauger of the US coast guard said.

The Titan, operated by the US-based company OceanGate Expeditions, had been missing since it lost contact with its surface support ship on Sunday morning about an hour and 45 minutes into what should have been a two-hour dive to the world’s most famous shipwreck.

The White House said the loved ones of the five men had endured a “harrowing ordeal” over the past week.

For more on the reactions to this grim tragedy, read the full report by Guardian International’s site editor Graham Russell.

George Rutherglen, a professor of admiralty law at the University of Virginia said he would be surprised if the US government did not respond to the incident with more regulation, particularly given the resources deployed by the US Coast Guard.

These wrecks at the bottom of the sea have become more accessible with advancing technology. It doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily become safer to go down and take a look.

The International Maritime Organization, which regulates commercial shipping, could take some kind of action, he added, and Congress also could pass legislation. Nations such as the U.S. could, for example, block ships engaging in such expeditions from docking in their ports.

I would just be surprised if any incident with all of these costs involved — wrongful death, expensive rescue — would not lead to some initiatives.

But Forrest Booth, a San Francisco-based partner at Kennedys Law, said the International Maritime Organization “has no authority to impose its will” and was sceptical about how much change will follow.

There could be a move for states to adopt an international treaty on the deep ocean. But that will be resisted by some nations that want to do deep-sea mining, etc. I do not think much of substance will happen after the media attention of this event dies down.

– AP

Mike Reiss, a writer for “The Simpsons” television show who went on a Titanic expedition with OceanGate in 2022 has recalled how his waiver said he would be “subject to extreme pressure. And any failure of the vessel could cause severe injury or death.”

Speaking by memory Reiss recalled the terms said:

I will be exposed to risks associated with high pressure gases, pure oxygen, high voltage systems which could lead to injury, disability and death. If I am injured, I may not receive immediate medical attention.

The comments come amid speculation of the legal fall out from the incident and calls for more regulation of the industry.

– AP

The loss of the Titan submersible has raised questions about the regulation of deep-sea exploration.

Salvatore Mercogliano, a history professor at Campbell University in North Carolina who focuses on maritime history and policy compared deep-water operations as “akin to where aviation was in the early 20th century.”

Aviation was in its infancy — and it took accidents for decisions to be made to be put into laws.

There’ll be a time when you won’t think twice about getting on a submersible and going down 13,000 feet. But we’re not there yet.

Mercogliano said such operations are scrutinized less than the companies that launch people into space. In the Titan’s case, that’s in part because it operated in international waters, far from the reach of many laws of the United States or other nations.

The Titan wasn’t registered as a U.S. vessel or with international agencies that regulate safety, Mercogliano added. Nor was it classified by a maritime industry group that sets standards on matters such as hull construction.

Stockton Rush, the OceanGate CEO who died on Titan, previously said he thought regulation worked to impede innovation writing in a blog post on his company’s website that:.

Bringing an outside entity up to speed on every innovation before it is put into real-world testing is anathema to rapid innovation.

– AP

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