The team of the Titanic tourist submarine has 30 hours left before the remaining oxygen runs out. Will the rescue attempts succeed before time runs out? Retired General's response to this question is akin to an epitaph for rescue efforts, based on two main points: "If the alarm device is not activated to send a signal, the search will inevitably take longer, and the team has never faced the dilemma of raising a submarine from the depths of the sea." For these reasons, retired Admiral Chris Barry asks in an interview with The Telegraph: "Was this risk worth it? And what about the safety measures the crew relied on?"
Last Sunday morning, it was announced that a tourist submarine with five people on board had gone missing while exploring the wreck of the Titanic, less than two hours into the exploratory trip to the wreck, which is located over two miles beneath the surface of the North Atlantic. In an interview with LBC, Admiral Barry questioned the logic behind the decision to enter the submarine before the exploratory trip. He said, "Why on earth would you enter a dangerous technical piece where you actually have to waive any right to sue the company for damage, injury, and death?" He continued, "It is fundamentally dangerous, there was no backup plan, it is experimental work and I am afraid to say there is an element of arrogance if you want to go down and do this."
Admiral Barry added that without a signal from the Titanic, it would be "impossible" to find it within the time frame, as there are only 30 hours of oxygen left in the submarine. He said, "I fear the odds are extremely low."
#### Slight Optimism
The Admiral pointed out that "clearly, we want to remain optimistic, but there are two problems here - one is finding the submarine and the second is how to get it out of the seabed. This has not been done before and I don’t believe anyone has any ideas on how to do it at this point."
On Wednesday morning, the rescue operation focused on a new area after a Canadian aircraft picked up "underwater noise," but the remotely operated vehicles investigating the noise have so far yielded negative results.
#### Who Are They?
Four of the five people on board the Titan have been confirmed: Hamish Harding, a 58-year-old British businessman and explorer; British businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son, Suleman Dawood; and 77-year-old French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet. It is noted that the CEO of OceanGate, the company that manufactured the submarine, is also on board.
#### 'There Is Hope'
The underwater noise has given friends and family of those lost some reasons for optimism. Chris Brown, an explorer and friend of Harding, said he expects that his missing friend will produce "cracking sounds" to attract attention. He told BBC Breakfast: "This is just the kind of thing I would expect Hamish to come up with." He added, "There is always hope. As an explorer, you never give up anyway."
#### Poor Maintenance
Chris Brown, 61, told The Sun that he had previously signed up for the submarine himself but withdrew after questioning whether the company was competent in manufacturing and assembling parts. He found that the controls of the submarine "were based on computer game-style controllers." Brown added, "I discovered they used old scaffold poles to ballast the submarine - and that its controls were based on computer game-style controllers. If you were trying to build a submarine of your own, you could likely use old scaffold poles. But this was a commercial craft. Ultimately, I emailed them and said, 'I can no longer continue with this thing.' I requested a refund."
