The iconic ocean liner, the Titanic, as you know, had sunk in 1912. Almost 100 years back. Over the years, its wreckage has become a tourist spot for the rich, historians, and explorers as well. Stockton Rush is the CEO of Ocean Gates. The company runs these Titanic voyages. Mr. Rush started the company in 2009 with an aim to give customers a chance to explore deep sea travel and made the first expedition in 2021 which is 2 years ago. In 2023 the company did not do any voyages. However, they found that the weather is good and decided to do the voyage on Sunday 18 June 2023. The Polar Prince, a Canadian research vessel had taken the Titan submersible from Canada’s Newfoundland to a spot in the Atlantic Ocean where the Titanic Wreckage is. The Titan was then lowered in the water. The Titanic wreckage is at a depth of 12,500 feet. They were supposed to reach in 2 hours. However, communications between the submersible and the surface vessel are lost 1 hour and 45 minutes after starting its descent. This was on Sunday. Today is the 5th day and the titan is still missing. Who is inside? 

The submersible is manned by Stockton Rush, Ocean Gates CEO. On board is also a Pakistani British billionaire called Shehzad Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleiman. Belonging to one of the richest families in Pakistan. Renowned French Navy diver Paul Henry is also on board the submersible nicknamed Mr. Titanic. Paul Henry was the first of the IT was part of the first expedition that explored the Titanic wreckage way back in 1987. He has done more than 35 dives to the spot since then. He's 77.

The last passenger on board the Titan is British billionaire and adventure junkie Hamish Harding, who runs a Dubai-based jet dealership called Action Aviation. He had helped India bring Cheetahs from Africa to Kuno in Madhya Pradesh. Harding has completed several exploration activities including flying into space in 2022. Sadly the clock is ticking. Because the submersible goes so deep underwater, the only way it can communicate with its mother ship is via text messages. You drive it with a PlayStation video controller. And the Titan can't reliably navigate on its own, so it has to receive instructions from the ship on the surface. The Titan is as big as a minivan. It is 22 feet in length and fits only 5 people. The Titan can take up to 10 hours to reach the ocean floor and return. The Titan has 96 hours of oxygen. Now there are just about 18 hours of oxygen left in Titan and Titan, mind you, is barely the size of a minivan in the depths of the ocean. It's dark and it's very cold with oxygen running out. Survival is a challenge they can't skip because the craft they are in is deadbolted with 17 deadbolts that seal the submersible.It can only be unlocked from the outside. The point is they need to be found and found very soon because it's either get to the surface or die. For the rescuers and searchers, the location, of course, is the biggest challenge. The Titanic wreckage lies around 12,000 feet below sea level. Today, as we speak, it is the focus of a multinational search operation. The US Navy and Coast Guard and the Canadian Navy and Coast Guard are using cutting-edge assets and submarines to detect any sign of the Titan. Canadian Navy has a P8 Poseidon in the sky, an aircraft that specializes in detecting submarines underwater. 

The French and British have joined in these search operations as well. Also helping in the search is the Polar Prince, the Canadian research vessel that had transported this ill-fated submersible to the Titanic record site. There was some sign from deep inside the ocean. US authorities say that banging noises were heard at half-hour intervals for about four hours. This happened on Tuesday, but beyond that, there has been no forward movement. The question is, despite the world's most powerful Navy is deployed for the last four days, why has the search not gone anywhere? For a moment, look at the place where the search is on. It's in the depth of the Atlantic Ocean. There is no sunlight there. There is no GPS there. It's a bit like looking for something in outer space. Importantly, finding the submersible is one thing, but rescuing it will be another. For instance, the US Navy's nuclear-powered submarines usually operate at 800 feet or less, meaning. They can't dive down to the ocean floor where water pressure on the submarine hull could make it implode, essentially. Options for rescue vessels are limited, but a French vessel equipped with a robot that can dive to the depths we are talking about could be the last hope. It's on its way as we speak. Then there is also the baggage of history.

The deepest-ever underwater rescue was that of Roger Chapman and Roger Mallinson, who were rescued from the Pisces 3 submersible at depths of 1,575 feet. This was in 1973. They were trapped for 76 hours before finally being pulled to the surface. The Titanic wreckage, as we've just told you, is much, much deeper. It's sitting nearly at 12,000 feet below sea level, essentially. Search and rescue GPS at these depths have never been attempted before. Now, a ticket to see the Titanic wreckage does not come cheap. It costs roughly over ?2,00,00,000. There had been enough warnings about Ocean Gates Titanic dive. The Marine Technology Society, for example, five years ago had raised concerns about the experimental approach of the Titanic trip. It had penned a letter to rush the missing CEO warning of potential. Oceangates employees had raised safety concerns however they were sacked. A CBS reporter David Pogue who tried the tourist submersible Titan said that the vessel got lost for several hours during a dive in 2022. David Pogue said he wasn't in the vessel during this particular dive. However, he was in the control room of the submersible's mother ship at the time adding that the crew shut off the internet on board.
"They could still send short texts to the sub, but did not know where it was," Pogue wrote. "It was quiet and very tense, and they shut off the ship's internet to prevent us from tweeting." As the oxygen level falls, the proportion of carbon dioxide being breathed out by the crew will be rising. As levels of carbon dioxide build up and you will lose consciousness. Hypothermia, the lack of oxygen, and the build-up of carbon dioxide within the sub mean the crew's ability to make contact with the search and rescue mission, such as by banging on the hull at regular intervals to try and attract attention, will dwindle.

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