Investors Call Submersible Titan Designed To Return To The Surface After 24 Hours

Submersible Titan before launching from the platform that carries it. (Twitter/@actionaviation)

JAKARTA - The missing Submersible Titan on its way to the ruins of the banyan ship is designed to return to the surface after 24 hours, said one of OceanGate's investors who is the operator of the underwater vehicle.

Aaron Newman, who visited the ruins of Titan in 2021, said Titan had a weight that helped the submersible stability underwater, which would be released automatically after 24 hours, sending it back to the surface.

"This ship is designed to return to the top," he told CNN, as reported June 22.

He further explained that Titan's crew were told they could release the weight by swinging the ship, or using a pneumatic pump.

"If everything fails, the loads-holding rope is designed to come off after 24 hours, automatically sending it back to the surface".

Newman explained that Titan has an external electrical system as a driver. Meanwhile, the internal system is used for communications and heating.

Separately, Josh Gates, the host of the Discovery Channel that took part in the test dive on Titan in 2021, said he knew there were four ways to release weights and return to the surface in a state of emergency.

There is a computer-controlled heavy release, a manual valve system that injects air into an exterior weighing container, a hydraulic system to lower loads, as well as the ability to escape from a glider mounted on a submarine and help move the ship back to the surface.

As previously reported, the US Coast Guard said on Twitter, a surface ship, Polar Prince, had lost Titan which it launched about an hour and 45 minutes after starting a dive towards the location of the ruins on Sunday morning.

It is known that the ruins of palpitations, the British ship that crashed into an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912, are located about 900 miles (1,450 km) east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and 400 miles (644 km) south of St. Louis. John's, Newfoundland.

Authorities have not confirmed the identities of those inside Titan. However, a number of reports mention the names of British billionaire Hamish Harding and Pakistani-born businessman Shahzada Dawood with his son Suleman, both British nationals.

French rover Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Stockton Rush, founder and CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, are also reported to have participated.