John Adoyi, PBA Journalism Mentee
Coast guards from the United States and Canada are searching for a submarine vessel carrying tourists that went missing on Sunday in the Atlantic Ocean during a tour of the wreckage of the Titanic ship.
OceanGate, the company conducting the tour that costs $250 thousand per person, thanked all relevant agencies helping in the rescue mission and said in a statement that the crew in the submarine are its greatest concern.
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“Our entire focus is on the crew members in the submersible and their families, we are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible,” the company said.
OceanGate which is a private company that provides ocean expertise and crew members for both commercial and military purposes has conducted trips to the Titanic ship wreckage since 2021. This is the third trip to the ocean liner. The number of persons in the vessel is yet to be known.
According to BBC, the submersible usually carries a pilot, three paying guests, and what the company calls a “content expert” for a trip.
According to information on the company’s website, two more trips have been planned in 2024.
On 15 April, 1912, the Titanic which was the largest ship at that time, sank after hitting an iceberg on its way to New York, United States from Southampton in England. More than 1,500 members of the ship died.
The wreckage of the ship which was discovered in 1985, lies about 600km (370 miles) off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada and has been the subject of movies and different scientific research.
