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All 5 passengers on OceanGate’s missing Titan submersible are dead
By: Tovia Smith | Juana Summers | NPR
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Tovia, this is a tragic turning point. What can you tell us?
TOVIA SMITH, BYLINE: Well, it’s a confirmation of everyone’s worst fears. Even given what we thought was a dwindling oxygen supply, many were clinging to hope that there would be survivors, but families were notified earlier today that is not the case. Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger says the sub imploded on its way down to the ocean floor.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOHN MAUGER: In consultation with experts from within the unified command, the debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber.
SMITH: So now the wreckage of this sub is laying on the ocean floor just about 1,600 feet away from the wreckage of the Titanic that the passengers were hoping to view. And I’ll add the debris from the sub was first spotted by a remote-operated vehicle that just arrived this morning to help the search.
SUMMERS: Just this morning. I mean, Tovia, those are key pieces of equipment, and they’re arriving there four days into the search and rescue operation. Why so late?
SMITH: That’s a question we’re probably going to be trying to answer for a while. So first off, this is far away, and it takes a lot of time to mobilize such big equipment and get it all there. Also, there’s been a lot of finger-pointing. And I’ll refrain from repeating that until we have the facts. But one fact we do know is that the ship lost communication capability on Sunday morning, and the Coast Guard says it got the call for help on Sunday evening. So there are questions about that apparent delay by OceanGate, the company that owns the sub. I spoke to David Marquet, who’s a former Coast Guard commander. He told me that they may have delayed because, as we know, they lost communication with the sub in the past.
DAVID MARQUET: There’s motivation for not getting everybody excited and not having the Coast Guard expend resources unnecessarily. But not only is that hours; but it’s hours of daylight. So I think there was an unconscionable delay in reporting the problem.
SMITH: OceanGate had no comment on that. In a statement today, the company said it was grieving those lost, and it noted the spirit of adventure shared by all those on board.
SUMMERS: I mean, I have to imagine that families now mourning loved ones also have questions about that delay.