Secret US Navy sonar detected implosion hours after Titan sub lost contact
The US Navy began listening for noise of the missing Titan submersible as soon as it was reported missing, it has been revealed.
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The US Navy is said to have detected the likely implosion of the Titan submersible on underwater sound monitoring devices shortly after it disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean during a trip to the wreck of the Titanic.
The implosion was recorded shortly after the Titan went missing on Sunday by a secret acoustic monitoring system designed to detect submarines, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing an unnamed senior US Navy official.
“The US Navy conducted an analysis of acoustic data and detected an anomaly consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general vicinity of where the Titan submersible was operating when communications were lost,” the official told the Journal.
The wreckage of the missing Titan submarine was discovered 487 metres (1600 feet) from the bow of the Titanic, with all five explorers on board confirmed dead.
US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger on Friday said there were no survivors after the tail cone of the OceanGate submersible was found by a search and rescue remote operating vehicle.
“The debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber. Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families,” he said.
The US Navy would not reveal the name of the secret listening system, citing national security concerns.
Meanwhile the US Coast Guard said that the mysterious banging noises detected by search-and-rescue teams are not believed to be connected to the missing Titan submersible.
“There doesn’t appear to be any connection between the noises and the location on the seafloor,” Rear Adm. John Mauger of the US Coast Guard told reporters at a press conference.
“Again, this was a catastrophic implosion of the vessel which would have generated a significant broadband sound down there that the sonar buoys would have picked up.”
EERIE FINAL PHOTO OF TRAGIC SUB
An eerie photo showing a submarine that takes tourists to the wreckage of the Titanic shows the vessel before it disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean.
British billionaire Hamish Harding, French diving expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet, businessman Shazada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman, and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush were on board.
A photo taken on Sunday morning shows the submarine above water before taking a dive.
It shows the vessel in foggy and wet weather being taken out to sea by two dinghies on a barge.
Harding posted on Facebook a day earlier about the poor weather conditions before the trip began.
“Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023,” he said.
“A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow.”
Nargeolet, Director of Underwater Research Program at Premier Exhibitions, RMS Titanic, has previously addressed the dangers of deep-sea exploration.
“If you are 11m or 11km down, if something bad happens, the result is the same,” he said in an interview.
“When you’re in very deep water, you’re dead before you realise that something is happening, so it’s just not a problem.”
Rush last year gave an interview on how the OceanGate vessel operates.
“Titan is the only five-person sub capable of going to the Titanic depth, which is half the depth of the ocean,” he told CBC.
“There are no switches and things to bump into, we have one button to turn it on.
“Everything else is done with touch screens and computers, and so you really become part of the vehicle and everybody gets to know everyone pretty well.”
- with AFP
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