An interview has emerged of one of the men aboard the lost Titan submersible describing what it would be like to be trapped at the bottom of the ocean.
The hypothetical scenario Paul-Henry Nargeolet lays out in the old clip is chillingly similar to one of the possible fates of the Titan, which was still missing — with him aboard — as of Thursday.
Nargeolet, known as “Mr Titanic,” is a veteran of the deep sea. He was part of the first expedition, in 1987, to see the Titanic on the ocean floor, and has visited the site at least 35 times.
In the video, Nargeolet speaks about the dangers of diving to the wreck in his own vessel, the Nautile, in a clip that has now been posted to YouTube.
He was speaking to the Titanic Channel in 2019, according to New Zealand outlet 1News.
AP also appears to have referenced the interview in its reporting, though it said the interview took place in 2017.
“If you are, with the Nautile, stuck on the bottom, you can survive for a while because you can stay about four or five days on the bottom — which would not help very much,” he said.
Nargeolet also said the pilot of a submersible must be “very careful” around a shipwreck. “A wreck is a dangerous environment,” he said.
The search for Nargeolet and the other four passengers — including OceanGate’s own CEO, Stockton Rush — has been ongoing since Sunday, when the Titan lost contact with the surface.
Experts have outlined several possible scenarios, as Insider’s Sophia Ankel and Marianne Guenot reported.
These include a catastrophic implosion of the craft; the possibility it has already surfaced; and the situation that Nargeolet outlined in the clip — that it may be stuck on the ocean floor without power.
In that instance, staying warm would be the chief danger, as the water outside would be around 33 degrees, he said in the video clip, adding: “We know very well that we will die before [that], with the temperature.”
The interception of banging sounds from underwater, as of Wednesday, had reignited hopes that the passengers were still alive. But by around 7 a.m. ET Thursday the vessel was estimated to have run out of oxygen, making the chance of a successful rescue less and less likely.
Describing how he felt a trapped passenger would die in the situation he outlined, Nargeolet told his interviewee: “After a while, you die because of the cold, which is not a bad way to die because you fall asleep,” he said, adding: “You don’t suffer.”
Source: Insider
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