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Wow, this is the worst possible situation, if true. They're likely to run out of breathable air long before they can be rescued. I'm hoping they make it out but

Wow, this is the worst possible situation, if true. They're likely to run out of breathable air long before they can be rescued. I'm hoping they make it out but, I personally would have opted for an implosion if I was in the same situation. The suffering they're enduring, if actually alive, is pretty rare. I can't imagine what is potentially going through their heads. If they are alive the 8 hour delay from Oceangate on reporting the incident to the USCG is likely going to result in massive liability, possibly criminal. Deep Sea rescues are extremely improbable and minutes matter let alone hours. I have a hard time believing that this report is accurate but, it's possible. My best friend works at the lab that tests and certifies deep sea vessels for the navy, manned and unmanned, and he's 99% sure they're already gone due to an implosion. He actually was involved in the testing of one of their prototypes so has a pretty intimate knowledge of their construction. Cyclical fatigue on the carbon fiber hull is the likely culprit if such was their fate.

graypegg 3y ago
Being in an enclosed space, knowing no one else can hear you, surrounded by people probably having a panic attack, at the bottom of the ocean in total darkness while you are slowly noticing the air getting harder and harder to breathe… yeah I would’ve taken the hull imploding over 80-something hours of that. One guy is down there with his 19yo son… empathy is a powerful thing, imagining that situation just makes my heart sink.
- flangola7 3y ago
  It is also close to freezing temperatures
  - prox 3y ago
    And even if they were to surface, the bolts of the hatch can only be opened from the outside
- lostlogin 3y ago
  > Being in an enclosed space, knowing no one else can hear you, surrounded by people probably having a panic attack, at the bottom of the ocean in total darkness while you are slowly noticing the air getting harder and harder to breathe… I had an old guy tell me about why he was claustrophobic once. Closed doors and the dark were a challenge. He got depth charged in a submarine during WWII. The lights got blown out, water was coming in etc. Everyone survived but it had a marked effect on him.
  - peteradio 3y ago
    That's an incredible story. Someone had to keep their wits about them to successfully resurface. I imagine there was a lot of experience and training that saved that crew.
HWR_14 3y ago
They have another ~30 hours of air. The biggest hope is that they are not terribly deep trapped near the surface and can be located in that time.
- p-e-w 3y ago
  How could they be trapped "near" the surface? That would require the sub to maintain buoyancy precisely, which seems unlikely without active systems.
  - HWR_14 3y ago
    As I understand it, the vessel is not able to surface on its own. At its most buoyant, a small amount of the sub will emerge from the water, and that weight will push it back down, so the vast majority of the sub is underwater. This bobbing, which depending on waves can have a small amount or none of the sub above water at any time, would make them hard to detect but easy to retrieve if they were located.
    - ehnto 3y ago
      Imagine being so close yet still not able to escape the vessel. I don't know what is standard for subs, but it strikes me as particularly terrifying that they have no way to open it from the inside.
      - HWR_14 3y ago
        I think, but based on nothing but news stories about this incident, that's common for very deep sea submersibles. It makes sense, the could opt out of a whole bunch of surface ship concerns and they expect to be launched and retrieved. It also helps simplify the design if you don't have to worry about opening hatches from the inside. That adds complexity and can introduce new failure modes.
        gr8flyer1011 3y ago
        I'm betting that little potty bucket may be filling up...
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
numpad0 3y ago
Isn't it just a relatively doable matter, of hooking up a wire by a robot and pulling out to the surface, assuming a suitable robot can be flown and deployed soon enough?
- ablation 3y ago
  It's ~12,500ft (~3,800m) down on the seabed at this point, most likely. Nothing is "relatively doable" at these depths and associated conditions.
upon_drumhead 3y ago
According to Wikipedia > The vessel was expected to resurface at 18:10 ADT.[16] Authorities were notified about the incident at 18:35 ADT. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Titan_submersible_incident https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Titan_submersible_incid... One could argue that the delay once communications were lost is reasonable until the sub was overdue back.
gr8flyer1011 3y ago
I don't think anyone can actually take the company to court, the passengers signed their lives away (pardon the pun), to be able to take that ride to the Titanic. I would be curious to know if it had a backup propulsion system in case the primary failed?

graypegg 3y ago

Being in an enclosed space, knowing no one else can hear you, surrounded by people probably having a panic attack, at the bottom of the ocean in total darkness while you are slowly noticing the air getting harder and harder to breathe… yeah I would’ve taken the hull imploding over 80-something hours of that. One guy is down there with his 19yo son… empathy is a powerful thing, imagining that situation just makes my heart sink.

flangola7 3y ago
It is also close to freezing temperatures
- prox 3y ago
  And even if they were to surface, the bolts of the hatch can only be opened from the outside
lostlogin 3y ago
> Being in an enclosed space, knowing no one else can hear you, surrounded by people probably having a panic attack, at the bottom of the ocean in total darkness while you are slowly noticing the air getting harder and harder to breathe… I had an old guy tell me about why he was claustrophobic once. Closed doors and the dark were a challenge. He got depth charged in a submarine during WWII. The lights got blown out, water was coming in etc. Everyone survived but it had a marked effect on him.
- peteradio 3y ago
  That's an incredible story. Someone had to keep their wits about them to successfully resurface. I imagine there was a lot of experience and training that saved that crew.

HWR_14 3y ago

They have another ~30 hours of air. The biggest hope is that they are not terribly deep trapped near the surface and can be located in that time.

p-e-w 3y ago
How could they be trapped "near" the surface? That would require the sub to maintain buoyancy precisely, which seems unlikely without active systems.
- HWR_14 3y ago
  As I understand it, the vessel is not able to surface on its own. At its most buoyant, a small amount of the sub will emerge from the water, and that weight will push it back down, so the vast majority of the sub is underwater. This bobbing, which depending on waves can have a small amount or none of the sub above water at any time, would make them hard to detect but easy to retrieve if they were located.
  - ehnto 3y ago
    Imagine being so close yet still not able to escape the vessel. I don't know what is standard for subs, but it strikes me as particularly terrifying that they have no way to open it from the inside.
    - HWR_14 3y ago
      I think, but based on nothing but news stories about this incident, that's common for very deep sea submersibles. It makes sense, the could opt out of a whole bunch of surface ship concerns and they expect to be launched and retrieved. It also helps simplify the design if you don't have to worry about opening hatches from the inside. That adds complexity and can introduce new failure modes.
      - gr8flyer1011 3y ago
        I'm betting that little potty bucket may be filling up...

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

numpad0 3y ago

Isn't it just a relatively doable matter, of hooking up a wire by a robot and pulling out to the surface, assuming a suitable robot can be flown and deployed soon enough?

ablation 3y ago
It's ~12,500ft (~3,800m) down on the seabed at this point, most likely. Nothing is "relatively doable" at these depths and associated conditions.

upon_drumhead 3y ago

According to Wikipedia > The vessel was expected to resurface at 18:10 ADT.[16] Authorities were notified about the incident at 18:35 ADT. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Titan_submersible_incident https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Titan_submersible_incid... One could argue that the delay once communications were lost is reasonable until the sub was overdue back.

gr8flyer1011 3y ago

I don't think anyone can actually take the company to court, the passengers signed their lives away (pardon the pun), to be able to take that ride to the Titanic. I would be curious to know if it had a backup propulsion system in case the primary failed?