Passengers on missing Titanic sub face tough conditions if alive, expert says
ARLINGTON (CBSNewsTexas.com) — An experienced deep sea explorer, Bob Curtis of Arlington, knows the odds aren't good for passengers inside the OceanGate submersible missing at sea.
"Most likely–because we have no communication since an hour-45 since they left–is a catastrophic implosion at that time, a catastrophic leak. And it's not like, 'My boat's leaking. I can plug it.' It's instantaneous," he said.
Curtis has built submarines from scratch and has done work for both military and commercial clients. The lack of communication, he says, is concerning.
"If they're still alive, they had to have had a significant electronic failure," said Curtis.
The best case scenario, he says, is that the vessel managed to surface on its own.
"If you think of yourself inside of a tube that's constantly rolling around, it'd be very uncomfortable for a long time," Curtis continued. "You'd get a lot of bumps and bruises."
The men would be stuck waiting.
"This particular submarine, they're actually using bolts. They're bolting you closed. So, you can't, 'Oh, we made it to the surface. Let's open the hatch.' They can't do that," he explained.
Another possible scenario, he says, is that the sub is sitting on the dark ocean floor, where the passengers would be enduring cold temperatures, cramped conditions and, likely, some crankiness.
"You're going to be irritable when you don't eat. You're going to be irritable when you're cold. You're going to be very irritable with a CO2 buildup," said Curtis.
The buildup of carbon dioxide, he says, would eventually cause them to pass out and become life-threatening. Still, Curtis says, as long as there's a chance, he'll hold out hope.
"Many people have survived long after on paper it says they can't survive."