Occupants of the submarine Titan did not feel death; understand – 06/23/2023 – Balance

The submarine’s implosion towards the Titanic would have occurred in a fraction of a millisecond, before the passengers realized that something was wrong. According to an expert, the occupants of the submersible Titan would not even have noticed the implosion of the vehicle.

The pressure on the submersible, popularly called a submarine, was enormous at such a depth, causing the implosion to happen in a fraction of a millisecond, according to Aileen Maria Marty, a former Navy officer and professor of disaster medicine at the University of Florida International, in an interview with US broadcaster CNN.

The expert said that the human brain is not able to understand the situation so quickly. “The whole thing would have collapsed before the people inside realized there was a problem,” she said.

In an implosion, an object suddenly collapses if the outside pressure is greater than the inside. The phenomenon occurs in the inverse proportion of forces to that of an explosion. The slightest structural defect is enough to trigger such a catastrophe at great depth.

The Titan’s occupants died, in a sense, not knowing they were going to die, according to Marty. “Ultimately, among the many ways we can die, this one was painless.”

The US Coast Guard announced on Thursday, after days of intense searches, that almost 500 m from the bow of the wreck of the Titanic, fragments of debris were found. The depth was about 3,800 m. They belong to the Titan, missing with five people on board. The Coast Guard spoke of a “catastrophic implosion” that killed the vehicle’s occupants.

Meet the expedition participants.

Private jet salesman

One of the submersible’s five occupants, British businessman Hamish Harding, 58, was familiar with extreme explorations like the one carried out on the wreckage of the Titanic. Aside from his adventures, which he talked about on social media, few details are known about the career and fortune of the CEO of the private jet sales company Action Aviation, founded in 2004.

Graduated in natural sciences and chemical engineering from the University of Cambridge, Harding traveled to space a year ago aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, on a ten-minute flight that marked the fifth successful manned mission for Jeff Bezos’ company.

the french scientist

Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, was a scuba diving specialist and maritime archaeologist. A deep sea explorer, he was a naval officer in the early part of his career. He led the group of mine clearing divers in Cherbourg, northwest France, before becoming a submarine pilot for the French Navy. He later devoted himself to maritime archeology and excavated several shipwrecks.

As early as 1987, Nargeolet saw the wreckage of the Titanic aboard the French submarine Nautile. Dozens of dives followed, in which several hundred objects were found. The last ones took place in mid-2021.

Pakistani businessman and son

A prominent Pakistani businessman and his son were also on board the submersible. They were Shahzada Dawood, 48, vice chairman of conglomerate Engro, based in Karachi, in southern Pakistan, and her son Suleman, 19, both British citizens. Engro had investments in several business sectors: energy, agriculture, petrochemicals and telecommunications.

The head of the expedition, entrepreneur, guide and captain

The fifth person on board was the American Stockton Rush, director of OceanGate Expeditions, the company that organized the trip and which he founded in 2009.

The company, described by Smithsonian magazine as a “reckless inventor”, began taking customers to see the Titanic’s remains aboard its purpose-built submersible in 2021. Rush said the visit to the wreck was part of a strategy to marketing as he tried to develop innovations for submersible vessels.