The search to find the missing submarine that vanished amid a trek to visit the ruins of the Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean on Sunday morning reached a critical point on Thursday, as we all know. Per estimates, the vessel, carrying five high-paying passengers, is said to have run out of oxygen at around 7 a.m. EST this morning.
It’s a devastating realization for investigators and all the crew member’s families. Yet one person sounds hopeful there’s still a chance the adventurers could be saved!
Related: Missing Titanic Sub: Everything We Know So Far
In a new statement on Facebook on Thursday, Guillermo Söhnlein, who co-founded OceanGate Expeditions in 2009 with the current CEO and pilot aboard the Titan, Stockton Rush, suggested there may be more time to find the sub than many believe. He wrote:
“Today will be a critical day in this search and rescue mission, as the sub’s life support supplies are starting to run low.”
He continued:
“I’m certain that Stockton and the rest of the crew realized days ago that the best thing they can do to ensure their rescue is to extend the limits of those supplies by relaxing as much as possible.”
Conserving oxygen would be a smart thing to do, but it’s also gotta be very challenging considering the conditions they may be in. Not to mention the sheer panic that might take over! Addressing the air supply, he added more pointedly:
“I firmly believe that the time window available for their rescue is longer than what most people think.”
OceanGate and investigators revealed the sub had 96 hours of oxygen aboard when it took off for the dive. This means we’re already well past the timeline when they believed the oxygen would have run out. So, is this wishful thinking? We sure hope not, but it’s hard to know with the complex variables of this dilemma.
Related: OceanGate Employee WARNED Disaster Could Happen!
Despite obvious concerns, Guillermo urged everyone “to remain hopeful” while citing a similar incident over 50 years ago, he explained:
“In 1972, a similar rescue operation was able to retrieve two pilots trapped in a downed submersible with only 72 hours of life support. I continue to hold out hope for my friend and the rest of the crew.”
He also asked people not to speculate about what may have led to this tragedy and to instead give the investigators space to do their jobs and allow the families time to process this situation, saying:
“I ask that we wait until after the crew returns and conducts a proper debrief to speculate on what happened. We need to give those involved with the rescue enough room to focus on their work, and we need to give the crew’s families privacy to deal with their emotions in their own personal way.”
It should be noted, though, that while the businessman left the company in 2013, he’s still a minority shareholder. So, of course, he doesn’t want people to speculate about how the company may have f**ked up! He’s trying to save their reputation as much as possible. At this point, we’re not sure there’s any coming back from this business-wise! You can read his full statement, which is not an official reaction from the company itself, HERE.
Shortly after this statement was released, search and rescue operations did announce a discovery in the investigation.
The US Coast Guard revealed on Thursday that a debris field was discovered by a rover near the Titanic site. Currently, experts are evaluating the information and are expected to share more during a press conference at 3 p.m. EST today in Boston. It’s unclear what this means for the passengers — French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his teen son, Sulaiman, as well as Stockton — but they and their families remain in our thoughts and prayers right now.
[Image via OceanGate/YouTube]
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