A submarine exploring the wreckage of the Titanic with tourists on board disappeared during an expedition this weekend, OceanGate Expeditions, the ship’s owner, has confirmed. A spokesman for the Boston Coast Guard has indicated that five people were traveling in the submersible and that they have already begun the search operation in North Atlantic waters.
At the moment, the Massachusetts authorities have not confirmed the identity of those who disappeared in the submersible. The nationality of the tourists on board is also unknown. The company, which operates from St. John, Newfoundland, in Canada, indicated in a statement that they are “exploring and mobilizing all their options to return the crew safe and sound”, in addition to explaining that they are focused on “members of the expedition and their families.
They have also appreciated the collaboration of the authorities of “different government agencies” and companies specialized in this type of exploration “to reestablish contact with the submersible.” The Canadian coast guard indicated to the CBS chain that the rescue operation is being directed by the Boston Regional Coordination Center, since that part of the Atlantic corresponds to them by jurisdiction.
On the company’s website, apparently collapsed due to the number of visits in the last few hours, tourist packages of seven nights to the remains of the Titanic are offered for $250,000. What remains of the ocean liner, which sank in the frigid ocean waters on April 15, 1912, is 3,800 meters deep and more than 600 kilometers off the coast of Canada.
The sinking after hitting an iceberg claimed the lives of 1,514 passengers of the 2,224 traveling from Southhampton to New York. OceanGate had begun its particular adventures two years ago with a submersible, the Titan, the only one designed for five people capable of reaching that depth in this part of the Atlantic, according to a CBS journalist who was able to experience it first-hand last year. past.
He described it then as a ship with a space similar to that of a van with some improvised components, such as a video game controller that was used to pilot the submersible. Clients have not been lacking, half obsessed with the Titanic and the other half interested in the depths of the sea. On their website they sell it as a chance to follow “in the footsteps of Jacques Cousteau” and become “an underwater explorer, starting with a dive to the wreckage of the Titanic. This is your chance to break out of your everyday life and discover something truly extraordinary.” Become one of the few to see the Titanic with your own eyes.”
The current expedition was scheduled for June 12 and until the 20th, with a maximum of six tourists per expedition and starting from the small island in eastern Canada. A British citizen who was going to be part of that expedition indicated through social networks that the winter in Newfoundland had been especially harsh and that is why it was the only trip of the year planned to the remains of the Titanic, according to The Guardian newspaper.
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