Australian engineer Ron Allum, who helped build the missing Titan submarine, revealed that the world is holding its breath as rescue efforts enter the final hours, in anticipation of the outcome of the events.
“Temperatures will reach two degrees Celsius inside the submarine, oxygen will be limited, and the ship’s hull may collapse due to the enormous underwater pressure,” the expert told the Australian Nine Network.
“Let’s hope it’s not an engineering problem, because if the structure collapses that would be catastrophic,” the Australian engineer added.
“The pressure structure is in the shape of a cylinder or ball, and it’s strong when it’s in this round or cylindrical shape, but as soon as it changes shape, it explodes. This thing will collapse like a tin can,” Ron Allum said.
Allum expressed his hope that the cause of what happened was an electrical failure or the submarine’s loss of communications, saying: “I hope it is just a battery outage, or that the connector has failed.”
He added that there is another problem that will also face rescue operations, according to Allom, by stressing that “if the situation is more dangerous with the submarine at the bottom of the ocean, then there are no rescue submarines capable of helping anyone at this depth.”
The race against time
And in the latest news of the relief work that is racing against time to reach the submarine before it is too late, resorting to what was called the “last chance”, which is a battery of heavy machinery and submarines that arrived in Canada tonight to help rescuers in the “desperate search” operation.
Rescue submarine
The combination of winches, cables and unmanned vehicles capable of being launched underwater 19,000 feet was delivered to St. John’s Airport in Newfoundland by three US Air Force cargo planes. She was taken, escorted by a police escort, to the port where the waiting ship, the Horizon Arctic, was due to set sail at midnight.
But with the 15-hour sea voyage to the search area where the five people were trapped underwater, you arrive precariously just as Titan’s submarine will run out of air.
The desperate search continues as more ships come aboard the Titanic’s wreck for the deepest undersea rescue mission ever.
Rescue teams are struggling to find the submarine Titan, which set off on Sunday morning on its voyage and lost contact with it within two hours.
Billionaire Hamish Harding, French explorer Paul-Henri Nargolet, CEO of OceanGate Stockton Rush and Shahzada Daoud, 48, a board member of the UK-based charity Prince’s Trust, and his son Suleiman Daoud, 19, are the people stuck on the submarine.
A major effort, involving several nations, is under way to try to rescue the crew. Late Tuesday, rescuers reported hearing “crackling sounds” at some point during the rescue effort.
