Wilfried Devillers, edited by Julia Solans / Photo credit: Ocean Gate / Handout / ANADOLU AGENCY / Anadolu Agency via AFP
Since the small submersible Titan and the five people on board disappeared in the North Atlantic near the wreck of the Titanic, the chances of finding remains are very low. Vice-Admiral Jean-Louis Vichot explains to the microphone of Europe 1 how the submarine could have imploded, which would be the most probable scenario.
After multiple sophisticated searches put in place to try to find the Titan tourist submarine in the North Atlantic, the five passengers have been considered dead since Thursday, June 23, according to the expedition’s organizing company, OceanGate. But what happened to the submersible? The most likely scenario remains a “catastrophic implosion” in the words of the US Coast Guard who found debris. The incident would have taken place at a depth of 2,000 meters, two hours after the departure of the crew towards the wreck of the Titanic. Questioned at the microphone of Europe 1, Vice-Admiral Jean-Louis Vichot, former commander of submarines, has no doubts about the course of events.
“Pulverized by the Force of the Sea”
“If you have the slightest crack, the slightest hole, the water will rush extremely brutally into the submarine. It will then be brutally invaded by the pressure and the shock is such that the structure will finish dismantling”. This version would explain the “rain of debris” found on the sea floor by the US Coast Guard. Unfortunately, the chances of finding traces of the bodies are slim, even non-existent according to Vice-Admiral Jean-Louis Vichot. The latter would have been “literally pulverized by the force of the sea” at the time of impact.
The power of the impulse destroyed any possibility of finding the remains. “There’s no chance of finding anything, maybe not even a trace of DNA. It’s been five days since it happened. It’s all been scattered and it’s gone,” the vice concluded. -Admiral. As a reminder, five people were on board the Titan submarine: an American, a Frenchman, a Briton and two Pakistani-British. The “debris field” was found 4,000 meters deep, near the wreck of the Titanic.