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Titan tragedy: Chilling ‘shudder’ support ship crew felt when they lost contact with sub, ‘We thought…’

Sep 29, 2024 11:07 AM IST

US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation Chair Jason Neubauer revealed how he felt around the time when communications with the Titan sub were lost.

The Titan support ship crew felt a “shudder” when they lost contact with the submersible last year, a hearing heard. The tragedy that followed led to the deaths of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, French diver Paul Henry Nargeolet, and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman.

Titan tragedy: Chilling ‘shudder’ support ship crew felt when they lost contact with sub(AP)

According to US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation Chair Jason Neubauer, he felt the Polar Prince “shudder” around the time when communications with the Titan sub were lost during the doomed voyage. Neubauer said this on the last day of the two-week hearing this month.

‘I felt the Polar Prince shudder’

Neubauer revealed that this statement was given to the board in October 2023 when the master or crew members were questioned on whether they heard anything that indicated the sub had undergone an implosion. “The answer from the master was, ‘With the benefit of hindsight, I now believe I felt the Polar Prince shudder at around the time communications were reportedly lost, but at the time, we thought nothing of it. It was slight,'” he said, as reported by The Mirror.

Captain Jamie Frederick, from the US Coast Guard Sector Boston, said during the testimony that had information been immediately reported to the Coast Guard, it could have had a “drastic impact on the search efforts.” Frederick said on Friday, September 27, “My initial reaction is, if that was information they have, to me personally, it would be unconscionable that they would not share that with the unified command.”

As per the perspective of the crew, the shudder was not reported to the Coast Guard as it was “not immediately connected to the event,” Neubauer said.

A remotely operated vehicle discovered the Titan debris on June 22 on the ocean floor. The vehicle was deployed to a depth of 6,000 metres. “They discovered the tail cone first. And then as we continued to find additional debris, it became apparent that it had been a total loss,” Frederick said.

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