3 hypotheses about the missing Titan submarine in the Atlantic Ocean

According to Chris Parry, a former Royal Navy officer, the submarine may have lost connection, but it is possible that an accident occurred while passing through the wreckage of the Titanic.

The Titan submersible carrying five people is missing in the Atlantic Ocean. (Photo: OceanGate).

According to Reuters news agency, the submersible named Titan, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, has been missing since Sunday (June 18), while carrying passengers to explore the wreck of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean.

Currently, rescue operations including ships and aircraft from the US and Canada have been deployed to search for the ship. However, the situation is quite complicated because the condition of the submarine is still unknown.

According to Chris Parry, a former Royal Navy officer, there are three possible explanations for the submarine's disappearance.

Lost connection to the mainland

The best hope is that the Titan submersible has surfaced thanks to the emergency rescue system. (Photo: OceanGate).

The first , and most optimistic, hypothesis is that the submersible is still operating normally, and has only lost contact with the mainland and the mother ship.

According to OceanGate, Titan is designed to carry up to five people to depths of 4,000 meters for surveying, research and data collection. Therefore, Titan is relatively light and capable of operating more autonomously than any other deep-diving vehicle.

The ship is also equipped with many safety features, including a Real-Time Hull Condition Monitoring (RTM) system that can detect and warn the pilot early enough to return to the surface safely. Therefore, if there is no major incident, the Titan is likely to surface.

Something went wrong, but the train kept running.

Inside the Titan ship. (Photo: OceanGate).

The second hypothesis , according to Chris Parry, is that the Titan had some kind of system failure that left it unable to move, and also lost signal. According to OceanGate, even if there was a problem, the people on board were still able to operate and repair or replace some parts on the spot.

In the worst case, the lives of those on board would depend on the remaining oxygen, until they were rescued, or until they solved the problem themselves.

Information from the operator shows that the ship has enough emergency oxygen for 96 hours, and about 70 hours if calculated as of the morning of June 20, Hanoi time.

Caught in the wreckage of the Titanic

The wreckage of the Titanic can be extremely dangerous for visitors. (Photo: Getty).

The third theory is that an unfortunate accident occurred while the submersible was visiting the wreckage of the Titanic. "If it had been caught in the wreckage, the ship could have had a really catastrophic incident," Chris Parry said.

In 2010, explorers found a mysterious bacteria in the thick layers of dust on the Titanic wreck. They named this bacteria Halomonas titanicae, and said that it could "eat up" the remaining parts of the Titanic, or turn this area into a very dangerous area, with parts of the ship that could collapse at any time.

The former Royal Navy officer said that if the submersible crashed near the Titanic, the rescue operation would be very difficult, because the seabed is very rough, and the Titanic itself is in a deep trench. In addition, debris in the area could hinder the sonar-based location and detection of the ship.

John Mauger, the US rear admiral who oversaw the search and rescue operation, also admitted that the sea area where the Titanic crashed was a remote area, making search and rescue really difficult.