A Frenchman on board the missing submersible had previously spoken out about the dangers of diving underwater, even aboard a submersible.
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A few years ago, Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a former French Navy diver, spoke about the dangers of landing in the deep sea.
In a 2019 interview with the Irish Examiner he said: “[Sous l’eau] You died before you realized something was wrong.”
AFP
Paul-Henry Nargeolet, 77, is a former French Navy diver nicknamed Monsieur Titanic.
At the time he was asked if he had ever been afraid to dive 12,500 feet to reach the wreck of the Titanic.
“Whether you’re at 11m or 11km, if something bad happens, the outcome is the same,” he said. If you’re in really deep water, you’re dead before you know what happened.
Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a submersible piloting specialist, broke the record for the deepest dive in a submersible at 35,853 feet below the surface.
In 1987, he was part of the first human expedition to visit the wreck of the Titanic, discovered two years earlier by famed explorer Robert Ballard, reports the Telegraph.
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Since then he has visited the ghost ship at least 35 times and was the first person to recover a remnant from the site, a silver plaque.
He has also previously admitted that sometimes it takes a little too much luck to reach the ship.
“You stop for four, five, six, seven…eight hours, which is the longest time, and even then you don’t really want to come back up. “Sometimes I go to the end of my batteries and sometimes even more than to the end,” he said last year. In fact, I’ve been reprimanded for it multiple times,” he added.
Also aboard the $250,000 dive was a Pakistani tycoon, Shahzada Dawood, vice president of conglomerate Engro, with his son Suleman on board, according to the wealthy family, who confirmed “contact had been lost since Sunday.”
The US Coast Guard, which is leading the search, told ABC News Tuesday, through its Rear Admiral John Mauger, that it had “also deployed underwater search capabilities” with “remotely operated vehicles.”
AFP
The Titan, designed to carry five people into the abyss, began its descent on Sunday at about 6.50 meters in length. According to the authorities, contact with the ship broke off less than two hours after departure.
The US Coast Guard then dispatched two planes to the North Atlantic search area, and their Canadian counterparts mobilized one plane and one ship. France announced on Tuesday that the French Research Institute for the Use of the Sea (Ifremer) is also sending a boat and its robot.