There are five passengers aboard the missing Titanic tourist submarine, and there is only a limited supply of oxygen that will soon run out. The submarine Titan vanished on Sunday, not long after beginning its ascent to the tragic Titanic’s wreckage. At a depth of around 12,500 feet (3,810 metres), the Titanic wreck is located.
According to a story from the Associated Press published today, OceanGate’s submarine has 96 hours of oxygen left, and the search effort is getting close to that time limit.
Dr Ken LeDez, a hyperbaric medicine expert at Memorial University in St John’s, Newfoundland spoke to BBC News. “It depends on how cold they get and how effective they are at conserving oxygen”.
Dr LeDez added “It’s not like switching off a light, it’s like climbing a mountain – as the temperature gets colder and metabolism falls [it depends] how fast you ascend that mountain”.
The US Coast Guard’s Rear Admiral John Mauger stated on Wednesday that the search and rescue operation was fraught with uncertainty. “We do not know the rate of consumption of oxygen per occupant on the sub,” Rear Adm Mauger told the BBC.
“As levels of carbon dioxide build-up, then it becomes sedative, it becomes like an anaesthetic gas, and you will go to sleep,” the medicine expert added.
Ryan Ramsey, a former commander of a Royal Navy submarine, claimed that when he watched online videos of the submarine’s interior, he was unable to spot any scrubbers, which are used to remove carbon dioxide. “That for me is the greatest problem of all of them,” he averred.
Hypothermia, in which the body becomes excessively chilly, is another danger to the crew. According to Captain Ramsey, the water’s temperature will be around 0C if the sub is on the ocean floor. It won’t be producing any power if it has also lost electricity, which means it can’t produce heat.
However, Dr. LeDez told the BBC that if they cool down sufficiently and lose consciousness, hypothermia “could be their friend” and they might survive. According to him, the body will naturally try to adapt in order to survive.
LeDez urges the search operation to go on despite these difficulties because he thinks the travellers may be able to survive even at very low oxygen levels.
