What could have happened to the submarine?

One version, according to Professor Grieg, is that after the emergency the submarine must lower the ballast. This will allow it to rise to the surface, which will allow its location to be determined. This scenario assumes a power outage and/or communication error.

But, if the body of the underwater vehicle is damaged and there was a leak (there is a version that the submarine may have been damaged by hitting the reef), Professor Greig expressed pessimism about the outcome, saying that in such a case “the forecast would be very depressing”.

If the submarine has sunk to the seabed and options that cannot surface on their own become extremely limited. Professor Greig explained that if a diver is deeper than 200 meters, there are very few ships that can reach that depth. In addition, it is not possible to carry out rescue operations with the help of divers at these depths. Even devices designed to rescue the navy’s submarines cannot reach the depth where the Titanic wreck is located.

“Titan” is one of the few submarines that can take people to the Titanic wreck site.

Few divers can take people 4,000 meters below the ocean’s surface. OceanGate, the company that organized the expedition, says it’s one of the few private companies in the world to have such a device.

Inside the “Titan” submarine / screenshot from BBC video

And only a handful of dives took place on Titan, the first of which was in 2021 to see the famous shipwreck, more than three decades after the first manned dive in 1987.

OceanGate says on its website that its submarine is groundbreaking—more affordable and lighter than others—and hopes it will revolutionize deep-sea exploration just as rockets have done for space.