Experts sound off on missing sub, Titanic tourists
MIAMI - A deep-sea exploration turns into a real-life nightmare for the families of the five men on board the Ocean Gate Titan Submersive. The sub deployed into the Atlantic Ocean Sunday, with the goal of traveling 13,000 feet deep to search the Titanic wreckage, but they lost contact with their support ship.
Rescuers have been working around the clock to find them, reporting that noise was detected in the water during their search.
"Sound travels over three times faster underwater than it does on the land. So, finding the exact direction where it's coming from is extremely difficult," said Michael Zinszer, who was a Navy diver for 20 years.
Zinszer says if the Titan sub is at the bottom of the ocean floor, the pressure will make rescue incredibly difficult.
"Two and a half miles down, there's over 5,000 pounds per square inch on that submarine. You look at a big old pick-up truck which weighs about 5,000 pounds and sit it on a one-inch quarter, that's how much weight is on that submarine at that depth at every inch," said Zinszer.
Zinszer adds that at that depth, there's a constant temperature of about 36 degrees.
The sub was deployed Sunday with 96 hours' worth of oxygen that's expected to run out by Thursday. Florida International University's Dr. Aileen Marty joined Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN Wednesday night to explain the severity of the situation.
"You become weaker, you become disoriented, you have loss of focus, and you have and you have loss of the ability to see, so you lose your peripheral vision. It's a horrific way to die," said Dr. Marty.
According to court filings obtained by CBS News, in 2018, a former employee said he was fired for voicing concerns about the Titan, adding that it was a potential danger to passengers in extremely deep waters.
Ocean Gate CAEO Stockton rush, who's currently on the Titan with the four other passengers, spoke with CBS News in November about the safety of the sub.
"The pressure vessel is not macgyvered at all because that's where we work with Boeing, and NASA and the University of Washington. Everything else can fail, your thrusters can go, your lights can go, you're still going to be safe," said Rush.
Each passenger paid $250,000 to go on the deep-sea trip. Ocean Gate says their priority is the rescue of the men on board and their families.
As for those deep-sea sounds, it's still being analyzed to determine where it came from.
