Oxygen runs out in the Titanic submersible: what happens after 13:08?

The human effort and technical means, with planes, ships and drones contributed by the United States, Canada and France, have been sustained on the only hope of underwater noises that are difficult to interpret and with the hypothesis that as long as there is no confirmation of the death, rescue should continue to be attempted.

But taking into account that these deployments involve a great investment of means and efforts and that the weather conditions may endanger the lives of rescuers, doubts arise:Do you have to keep looking no matter what?

Taking into account that time is running against a possible happy ending, decisions about what to do after the deadline is beginning to be on the table.

The analysis that is being carried out of the sounds captured by different probes may be one of the keys. As long as they persist, and above all as long as it is believed that they are occurring with a certain frequency, it is difficult for this first phase of the search, focused on the emergency of trying to save lives.

But it may happen that, even when these hopes fade, the search is automatically considered over. That depends on different circumstances:

It is not the first time that an underwater vessel has to be rescued, and it is not always found.

In Spain, the most recent case was that of the Galician ship Villa de Pitanxo, which also sank off the coast of Newfoundland (Canada), on February 15, 2022. The urgent rescue phase lasted a short time, and the wreck was not located until June 2023 thanks to side scan sonar. Villa de Pitanxo continued to be searched for by court order. Find him It was necessary to determine the causes of the sinking and establish responsibilities.

Although perhaps the best known case be that of the sinking of the russian military submarine k-141 Kursk. She sank on August 12, 2000, and despite efforts to try to recover the crew, all, lThe 118 who were inside died. Even knowing his death, a week after the accident, the ship was located. Seven days after the sinking, Norwegian divers finally opened the hatch from the ninth compartment of the submarine and found that there were no survivors.

A year later, in 2001, a Dutch team was hired to extract the wreckage from the sea. They managed to recover everything (except the bow). Also the remains of the 115 sailors, who could be delivered to their families.

Finding the Kursk served for the investigation and to clarify what happened. The tests concluded that the sailors did not manage to survive more than six hours and that, according to the official report, everything was due to “glaring breaches of discipline, shoddy, outdated and poorly maintained equipment”, as well as “negligence, incompetence and mismanagement” by the crew members.

What happened with the Ara San Juan is another similar case. This Argentine Navy submarine disappeared on November 17, 2017 at 7.30 in the morning with 38 crew members and 6 tactical divers on board and after notifying that he had suffered an electrical accident that had caused a small fire. Although noises were heard in the area where it sank and all available means were used, it was not possible to locate it and on November 30 the Argentine government estimated that “there was no chance of finding them alive” and ended the search.

One year and two days after his disappearance He was located by a private company hired by the Argentine government under pressure from family members. It was found at a depth of 907 meters. In this case The search continued to determine the cause of the accident. and after a great political commotion due to the opacity with which the case was treated.

Another case where the search for the ship was also continued despite the difficulty of the task was after the accident of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on March 8, 2014. Although all available means were used, today he still has not been found. The plane simply disappeared and its search in the ocean it was the greatest effort in aviation history.

The cost of that operation is difficult to determine given the number of countries and companies involved, but it is estimated that it was around 150 million dollars. The first phase of tracing lasted until May and since then missions have been carried out in different areas intermittently. Some gave partial results, such as the discovery of pieces of the fuselage in July 2015. In the coming months, between 2023 and 2024, a new phase will begin.

Now the situation is different. The bathyscaphe lost in the ocean belongs to a private company it was a tourist excursion and it is not clear who would bear the expense of continuing to search for the submersible. Right now no expense is being spared, but until when?

It is estimated that at the moment, according to estimates from the New York Times, the cost of the search is already around six million dollarswhat is not known is how much more will it cost to continue and above allwho will take it. According to comments to the media Chris Boyerexecutive director of the National Association of Search and Rescue, to continue “possibly cost millions”.

It is unknown if OceanGate Expeditions, the company that provided the excursion to the ruins of the Titanic, required its participants to take out some travel insurance. But most likely the passengers They took the risk of going down.

Among those who traveled in the submersibleare the millionaire businessman of Pakistani origin Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, whose family has expressed the wish that the search be continued even if they have to assume the bill. Three other people with high purchasing power were also traveling in the submersible: Stockton Rush, founder of the OceanGate company, the British billionaire Hamish Harding, and the expert on the Titanic, Paul Henri Nargeolet. Perhaps it is their relatives who have to decide whether to continue the search efforts.