dr Dale Molé, a retired emergency and preventive medicine physician and former US Navy director of underwater medicine and radiation health, said passengers would struggle with a “hostile internal submarine environment.”
Just weeks before the disappearance of the tourist submarine Titanic, a US Navy veteran warned of the health consequences of being trapped in a submarine, was able to reveal.
In a scientific article published in a medical journal last month, Dr. Dale Molé, former director of underwater medicine and radiation health for the US Navy, described the “hostile” environment aboard commercial submersibles, where passengers are faced with depleted oxygen supplies, toxic carbon dioxide levels and plummeting temperatures.
The yet-missing Titan ship will have an onboard carbon dioxide scrubber to remove excess toxic gas that builds up in the confined space as passengers exhale. However, most ships have limited capacity.
Due to the low temperatures in the deep ocean, there is also a risk of hypothermia and hyperventilation caused by panic attacks, which can use up more valuable oxygen.
dr Molé’s article was published in a scientific journal on May 29, just 20 days before the Titan ship lost contact with its mothership, leaving five people trapped. According to the US Coast Guard, the submarine now only has 40 hours of oxygen.
Speaking to , Dr. Molé today that it was “actually” a race against time to save the passengers, unless they had already died from a “catastrophic rupture of the pressure vessel”.
The Titan ship will have an onboard carbon dioxide scrubber to remove excess toxic gas that builds up in the confined space as passengers exhale. However, most ships have limited capacity. Due to the low temperatures in the deep ocean, there is also a risk of hypothermia and hyperventilation caused by panic attacks, which can use up more valuable oxygen
The Titan ship visiting the Titanic wreck submerged about 400 miles southeast of St. John’s, Newfoundland at 8 a.m. EST Sunday. It lost contact with its mothership at 9:45 a.m. – an hour and 45 minutes into the dive.
With the ship yet to be seen, the five Titanic tourists – including a British billionaire, a French shipping expert, a British businessman, and one of Pakistan’s richest men and his son – face the dual threat of oxygen deprivation and extreme cold two miles down exposed the surface.
There’s a chance Titan may be on the sea’s surface – but since the passengers were locked inside the main capsule by 17 bolts that can only be opened from the outside, they’re trapped and could still suffocate if not found soon.
In his article, published in the journal Ciottone’s Disaster Medicine, Dr. Molé: “The trapped crew of a sunken ship or submarine faces many physiological challenges, including toxic gases, elevated ambient pressures and hypothermia.”
dr Molé told today: “Whenever people are confined in an airtight space, oxygen may come to mind for most people, but carbon dioxide is actually a bigger problem.”
“In a submersible they will have a carbon dioxide scrubbing system. If they lost battery power, this system would stop working.”
A purification system removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, making the air safe to breathe.
dr Molé said, “When people breathe in oxygen inside, they breathe out oxygen, and the oxygen level goes from about 21 percent to 17 percent.” [oxygen]. But they exhale carbon dioxide, and that carbon dioxide needs to be removed or it becomes toxic.
Shahzada Dawood, 48, (pictured with his wife Christine), a UK-based board member of the Prince’s Trust charity, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, are among five people missing from the submarine that was headed to visit the wreck of the submarine Titanic
Among the expedition’s participants is billionaire Hamish Harding (pictured), CEO of Action Aviation in Dubai. He excitedly posted on social media that he was there on Sunday
French Navy veteran PH Nargeolet (left) is believed to be taking part in the expedition along with Stockton Rush (right), CEO of OceanGate Expedition
According to the US Coast Guard, the company’s Titan submarine submerged about 400 miles southeast of St. John’s, Newfoundland at 8 a.m. EST Sunday morning. It lost contact at 9.45am but was not reported to the Coast Guard until 5.40pm
“The people inside will find it difficult to breathe, their breathing depth will increase.” They develop a headache and gradually become unconscious.
“Increasing carbon dioxide levels are what kill people first in an airtight environment, not oxygen levels.”
If the submersible isn’t found within the next 40 hours, Dr. Molé: “Once they lose the ability to remove carbon dioxide from the inner atmosphere, this will lead to the fatal event.”
He explained, “It’s like putting a bag over your head. You get a feeling of congestion or hunger for air, and then unconsciousness follows.”
Hypothermia is another significant risk for passengers on board.
dr Molé said, “In such a small submersible, the onboard electronics generate some internal heat, and the occupants generate heat because it’s not a very large space.”
“But when the middle sphere makes contact with the ocean, it gets pretty cold there quickly.” “The average sea temperature is 41 degrees Fahrenheit.”
‘Initially, [the passengers] “You start shaking to generate heat, which uses more oxygen, and then judgment is often affected early on.”
They then lose the ability to use their hands and “then gradually pass out,” said Dr. Mole.
He added: “You should try to remain as quiet as possible and turn off as much electrical equipment as possible to conserve battery power and ensure you have enough power for your scrubbers.”
Another possibility is “an accident that was more like a catastrophic rupture of the pressure vessel,” said Dr. Mole.
He said, “It goes so fast you really don’t know what happened.”
If that were the case, people on board would have died instantly, he added.
If the submersible is still intact, according to Dr. Molé do not have any harmful effects on health.
“From the advertised 96 hours of oxygen or life support, one would assume everything is functioning reasonably normally.”
The submarine’s passengers, in an increasingly stressful situation, are also likely to panic.
Symptoms of a panic attack include increased heart rate, shortness of breath, tremors, and muscle tension.
People may experience lightheadedness, nausea, and dizziness, as well as tremors and sweating.
Passengers may begin to breathe rapidly and deeply, which can result in exhaling too much carbon dioxide and inhaling too little oxygen.
All of this can lead to hyperventilation, which can make you feel like you might pass out.
dr Mole submitted his work to the journal two years ago, which happened to be published weeks before the Titan incident.
It said: “National and international governments and organizations must have a robust and reliable search and rescue response plan that is implemented on a regular basis.”
“Medical personnel must be intimately familiar with the unique qualities of maritime medicine and be an integral part of any rescue team.”