CANADA: Canadian investigators have entered the support ship used to launch the Titan submarine in their bid to determine what led to the support ship’s tragic implosion.
When the Polar Prince docked in St. John’s, Newfoundland, on Saturday, the flags were lowered to half-staff. Another ship in the bay was towing the launch pad for the Titan. The Titan split apart while making a dive to the Titanic wreck, killing all five crew members.
At 08:00 (11:30 BST), residents of St. John’s congregated around the cannon on top of Battery Lookout to see the Polar Prince make its way back to port. Investigators wearing hard helmets and high-visibility jackets boarded the vehicle as several passengers disembarked.
The Titan’s support ship, the Polar Prince, had towed the submersible out to the North Atlantic region, where it made its dive on Sunday, roughly 400 miles from St. John’s.
Both members of the support crew and some victims’ families were present on board. Once it lost communication around an hour and a half into its dive, it was also involved in the search for the Titan.
On Thursday, pieces of the submersible were discovered in the ocean below 1,600 feet (487 metres) from the bow of the Titanic catastrophe.
Canada revealed on Friday that it was starting a probe into safety. Government organisations from other nations may participate, although it is yet unknown who will be in charge of the probe. Officials will examine the materials used to construct the submarine’s outside walls in addition to the Polar Prince’s participation, according to experts.
Since the news of the catastrophe leaked, industry experts have come forward to say that they had previously questioned OceanGate’s safety procedures. OceanGate owned the Titan, and its CEO, Stockon Rush, was on board when the accident occurred.
Emails obtained by the media outlets revealed that Rush called one expert’s worries “baseless cries” and dismissed them. Hamish Harding, Paul-Henry Nargeolet, Suleman Dawood, and Shahzada Dawood were also passengers on the Titan.
Also Read: Fatal Titan Submersible Incident Sparks Inquiry by Canadian Safety Regulators
