The Titan, which was operated by private company OceanGate, went missing on Sunday, shortly after embarking on a dive to the Titanic site, news outlets reported.
After a massive search for the submersible, which caught international attention, the US Coast Guard on Thursday said the Titan had suffered a “catastrophic implosion” and all five people aboard were killed, US broadcaster CNN reported.
Lech Rowiński, a Polish professor of shipbuilding at the Gdańsk Institute of Technology, told Polish state news agency PAP on Friday that the craft's producer apparently "cut some corners during the manufacturing process, due to a shortage of money.”
The tail cone and other debris from the missing submarine were found by a remotely operated vehicle about 500 metres from the bow of The Titanic, which rests about 4,000 metres deep in the North Atlantic Ocean, according to CNN.
The five people who died aboard the Titan were: OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood, British billionaire Hamish Harding, and celebrated Titanic researcher Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a former commander in the French navy, US broadcaster ABC News reported.
Poland's Rowiński said the Titan’s constructors should have tested at least “five prototypes” of the submarine and subjected the vessel to “hundreds” of test dives to ensure it was fit for purpose.
He added that the hull’s resistance to pressure should have been tested “beyond any doubt.”
Rowiński also said that the Titan’s constructors had failed to comply with these standards "most likely because they wanted to save money.”
Titanic 1912 - Titan 2023
Meanwhile, renowned Hollywood filmmaker James Cameron, who directed the Oscar-winning blockbuster Titanic and is a Titanic researcher, told ABC News there were parallels between the 1912 sinking of the British luxury passenger-liner and the Titan’s disaster this week.
Cameron said: "I'm struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship, and yet, he steamed up full speed into an ice field on a moonless night. And many people died as a result and for us, a very similar tragedy where warnings went unheeded to take place at the same exact site."
The Titan’s construction ‘fundamentally flawed’: James Cameron
The US film director is also a submersible designer and has “designed vessels that can dive to depths three times deeper than where the Titanic rests,” ABC News reported.
According to Cameron, the Titan’s carbon fibre construction was "fundamentally flawed."
Meanwhile, US Navy officials on Friday said their sensors had detected the likely implosion of the Titan on Sunday, which suggests that the five-day search for the missing sub may have been futile from the start, US public broadcaster NPR reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, ABC News, CNN, NPR
