By Emily J. Lopez |
Miami (EFE) at a great depth, Roger García, director of operations of the Aquarius underwater base in Florida, told EFE on Friday.
“Based on the debris that was found, what apparently happened was that the submersible’s pressure chamber did not sustain the high pressure at those depths, up to 5,800 pounds (2,633 kilos),” which caused an “instantaneous implosion,” he stressed. Garcia, Florida International University (FIU) dive safety officer.
“It may be that, unfortunately, this time the pressure chamber did not give more. But we hope that the official investigation can provide the answers that families need.” “The crew didn’t even have time to think about what was going on,” she said.
The implosion would have instantly killed the five passengers of the submersible that had been missing in North Atlantic waters since last Sunday, and which sparked four days of searching.
This Thursday, the US Coast Guard announced that the “debris” found near the area where the remains of the Titanic are found were from the external part of the Titan.
In the vehicle were the Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood with his son Suleman; British explorer Hamish Harding; the French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet and the CEO of the firm OceanGate, Stockton Rush.
Slow weakening of the chamber
“Although (the Titan) had already gone to these depths before, each time it was submerged the pressure was able to weaken the material in the chamber, gradually,” said the expert, an experienced diver with more than 20 years of service in the US Navy. .
The pressure difference is so great at these depths that “it could cause a catastrophic failure in the structure of the submersible’s pressure chamber.”
Although it is still very difficult to know exactly when and how this catastrophic failure occurred, García specified that, if the cause was not an implosion, “the available oxygen is not the problem” real.
The problem, in this second scenario of a possible loss of energy on board, would be carbon dioxide, since a level of this gas that reaches 10% is very toxic and is lethal, he assures.
Regarding the reliability of bathyscaphes such as the Titan, he points out that “there are always risks” and that, in the case of this submersible, “there are many variables in terms of construction and certification procedures that must be evaluated.”
Titan Inspections, Certifications and Construction
He explains that, for example, the Aquarius underwater research laboratory, 62 feet deep (19 meters) in Key Largo, “was built following federal pressure chamber laws” and has inspections every year and a special one every three.
“We don’t know what they did in this case,” he says in reference to the Titan, but this incident will lead to “reviewing how these submersibles are built and the type of inspections,” he adds.
In reality, the dangers involved in an expedition such as that of the Titan are the same as those of the Aquarius, only at less depth.
In other words, “communication can be lost, water can enter the pressure chamber, an implosion, an explosion, a fire, oxygen can be lost, carbon dioxide can rise to toxic levels, etc…”, he says.
In that sense, the Aquarius, dependent on FIU, is like a submarine or submersible, “but it doesn’t move”, a stationary laboratory at the bottom of the sea where “we can train people and give them the experience of being inside a submersible”. , in addition to instructing on “the problems that can happen inside a submersible and the construction laws” of these vehicles.
“That is why it is so important to take these variables into account when designing and building a submersible,” he warns.
The mission to go down to see the remains of the Titanic, sunk in 1912 after colliding with an iceberg, was the responsibility of the company OceanGate Expeditions, owner and operator of the submersible used to carry out deep-sea expeditions.