It has been revealed that the passengers on the missing submersible had to sign a waiver that mentioned "death" three times before boarding the vessel.
On Sunday, it was first reported that an underwater craft called Titan deployed by OceanGate had gone missing in the North Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of Canada. The vessel was embarking on an expedition 12,500 feet under the see in order to see the wreckage of the sunken Titanic.
The sub was carrying a total of five passengers which included British businessman Hamish Harding, the vice chairman of the Pakistani energy manufacturing conglomerate Engro Corporation Shanzada Dawood, and his son Sulaiman, professional deep diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and the founder and CEO of OceanGate Stockton Rush.
Titan set off in the early hours of Sunday morning, with the intention of diving to 12,500 feet to where the wreckage lays. However, following a failure to provide a signal back to the mothership, Polar Prince, after one hour and 45 minutes into the journey, operators became concerned and deemed the sub missing.
The next day, a major search operation was launched headed by OceanGate and the US Coast Guard who partnered up to search the area as well as its surroundings for any sign of the vessel though no positive news has come back as of yet.
On Tuesday, Captain Jamie Frederick of the US Coast Guard released a statement to reporters at a press conference, revealing in-depth details of what has occurred.
"On Sunday, the coordination command center in Boston received a report from the Canadian expedition vessel Polar Prince of an overdue 21-foot submarine, Titan, with five people on board," he said as per CBS News. "The Titan was attempting to dive on the wreck of the Titanic, approximately 900 miles east of Cape Cod and 400 miles south of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
"Approximately one hour and 45 minutes into the scheduled dive, the Polar Prince lost all communication with the Titan," he continued. "Polar Prince conducted an initial search and then requested Coast Guard assistance, the US Coast Guard in Boston assumed the responsibility of search-and-rescue mission coordinator and immediately launched search assets."
Frederick then revealed that the search has covered a "combined 7,600 square miles," adding that this was due to the combined effort of the US and Canadian Coast Guard, Air National Guard aircraft and the Polar Prince.
"These search efforts have focused on both surface, with C-130 aircraft searching by sight and with radar, and subsurface, with P-3 aircraft we’re able to drop and monitor sonar buoys. To date, those search efforts have not yielded any results," he added.
As the search continues against the clock, it has now been revealed that prior to the expedition commencing, all the passengers aboard had to sign a waiver.
Speaking to the New York Post, Mike Reiss - an Emmy Award-winning writer-producer for The Simpsons - revealed that he was a former passenger of Titan, and had successful descended 13,000 feet with four others in order to see the historic wreckage of the Titanic.
Reiss reflected on his experience, telling The Post: "Death is always lurking, it’s always in the back of your mind."
The 63-year-old added: "Before you even get on the boat, there’s a long, long waiver that mentions death three times on page one."
And speaking about the conditions of the vessel, Reiss continued: "It’s like if you took a minivan and took all the seats out, that’s the amount of space you have. It’s sort of beautifully designed inside, it feels sort of like a waiting room at a spa, quiet and comfortable."
David Pogue, a CBS journalist and a former OceanGate submersible attendee, also spoke about the preparation process from his own experiences.
"This experimental vessel has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, emotional trauma, or death," the paperwork allegedly specified.
He also told BBC News that even though the sub had seven different ways of re-surfacing but it was "really concerning" as none of them appeared to have worked as of yet.
Pogue said he was initially hesitant going aboard the submersible because some of the components seemed "off the shelf, sort of improvised," also adding that "You steer this sub with an XBox game controller, some of the ballast is abandoned construction pipes."
Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by this tragedy, as well as with the search crew.
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