Staggering cost of failed Titan submersible rescue mission revealed

The rescue mission of OceanGate’s Titan submersible is likely to cost millions – but it is unclear who will have to pay the massive bill.

Belinda Palmada

@belinda_palmada

2 min read

June 24, 2023 - 11:40AM

The cost of Titan submersible rescue revealed.

The failed rescue of the Titan submersible – which imploded with five people on board – is likely to cost millions, but it is unclear who will have to pay the massive bill.

Spanish news site AS.com reports the US, Canada and France were involved in the ongoing operation.

All three countries contributed to several planes, boats, and subs in the search for the missing passengers who took a dive to see the Titanic’s wreckage.

The US used resources such as three C-17 transport planes belonging to the US army and an aquatic drone.

Canada had a patrol plane and two surface boats, and one of which had doctors who specialised in diving medicine that arrived on the scene on Thursday.

France contributed a ship equipped with a remotely-operated vehicle.

According to the outlet, the extensive search mission will cost over $6.5 million.

The Victor 6000 robot was resource used in the rescue mission.

The executive director of the National Association for Search and Rescue, Chris Boyer, told the New York Times the effort would “probably cost millions”.

Taxpayers will ultimately be likely to foot the bill for the huge rescue mission.

Retired Admiral Paul Zukunft said OceanGate would not be expected to reimburse the US government.

“It’s no different than if a private citizen goes out and his boat sinks. We go out and recover him. We don’t stick them with the bill after the fact,” the former leader of the US Coast Guard told The Washington Post.

OceanGate’s Titan imploded this week during a descent to the Titanic wreckage.

On Thursday, the US Coast Guard announced that an implosion killed all passengers instantly as they plummeted to the sea’s black depths to explore the 111-year-old remains of the Titanic.

Debris from the Titan wreckage found on the ocean floor — some 3.8km below the surface — is “consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber”, which means the weight of the ocean crushed it sometime after the Titan lost touch with its surface vessel on Sunday.

An unmanned undersea probe found five big pieces of debris about 0.48km from the RMS Titanic, which sank in 1912.

It’s not clear what caused the implosion. The ship’s hull is still missing, authorities said. But the debris would only have been found if the vessel had suddenly imploded.

The Coast Guard didn’t say whether there was any plan to recover the five bodies.

The passengers lost on the vessel were British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Sulaiman.

“We offer our most heartfelt condolences for the loved ones of the crew,” Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick said on Thursday.

Hamish Harding (top left) Stockton Rush (top right) Paul-Henry Nargeolet (bottom left) and father-and-son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood (bottom right) died on board Titan.

The US and Canadian coast guards mounted a massive search for the sub, which only had about 96 hours worth of oxygen when it vanished. But it was too late.