Titan: how did three submarine accidents and rescues end in the world? (one occurred in Peru)

The waters of the Atlantic Ocean are the scene of an intense search against time. Titan, a submersible used to take tourists and experts to see the remains of the British ocean liner titanic, disappeared on Sunday with its crew on board. The ship has a maximum of 96 hours of oxygen autonomy for the breathing of the five people who are inside it.

READ ALSO: LIVE | Last minute of the search for the Titan, the submarine that disappeared when it was traveling to the Titanic

The 6.5 meter long submarine began its dive on Sunday the 18th but lost contact with the surface less than two hours later. The vessel is operated by the company OceanGate Expeditions, which conducts dives to the area of ​​the historic shipwreck, with seats priced at $250,000 each, according to its website.

One of the passengers was identified as British businessman Hamish Harding, whose aviation company had posted on social media about his expedition to the area. Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood are also on the boat.

Two planes, a US C-130 and a Canadian P8 equipped with sonar capable of detecting submarines, have already been deployed in the search efforts, according to the Coast Guard.

What happened with Titan has brought to mind other cases of lost or damaged submarines. We recall some of them below.

Pacocha (Peru)

The Pacocha submarine sank on August 26, 1988 at around 6:50 in the afternoon in the Callao sea.

The Pacocha, a Peruvian Navy submarine, was rammed by a Japanese fishing vessel when it was returning to the Naval Base after having carried out some training exercises.

(Photo: El Comercio Archive)

The Japanese vessel was the tuna boat Kiowa Maru, which had been entering the terminal without noticing the presence of the submarine.

On board the ship were 52 men, who would become the protagonists of an incredible survival story in which 22 trapped crew members had to make a free escape from the sunken submarine.

Its path to the surface ended on the morning of August 27.

Kursk (Russia)

On August 12, 2000, the accidental explosion of a torpedo caused the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine, Russia’s armament flagship.

The tension over the fate of the ship kept Russia in suspense for nine days. In total, 118 men were trapped 108 meters deep in the Barents Sea.

The accident occurred when the gigantic 154-meter-long submarine was taking part in the large-scale exercises of the Northern Fleet on the borders of Russia. and Norway. Two strong explosions left the ship incommunicado. Only the SOS that an occupant of the submersible sent through blows to the hull was received.

The K-141 Kursk nuclear submarine sank on August 12, 2000. (GETTY IMAGES)

The Kremlin took five more days to give the green light to the international rescue operation. Subsequently, weather problems made the operation difficult.

A note later found in one of the pockets of the uniform worn by Lieutenant Dmitry Kolesnikov showed that 23 of the sailors had managed to survive the two explosions that caused the sinking.

On August 21, the Russian Navy confirmed that all 108 crew members had died.

ARA San Juan (Argentina)

One of the recent cases that shocked Latin America and the rest of the world is that of the Argentine Navy submarine ARA San Juan, which disappeared on November 15, 2017 with 44 crew members on board. There were no survivors.

Communication with the Ara San Juan was lost after there was an explosion in the battery room caused by a water leak. It was then that an arduous search began that ended tragically almost a year later.

On November 15, 2017, communication with the ARA San Juan submarine with 44 crew members on board is lost in Argentina.

After more than 50 days of protests, the Argentine government announced the contracting of the company Ocean Infinity, based in Houston, United States, for a minimum term of two months and a maximum of four months, operator of the Norwegian ship Seabed Builder, equipped with five autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) and state-of-the-art technology.

On November 17, 2018 the Seabed Builder found the ARA San Juan at a depth of 907 meters at point of interest No. 24, very close to the so-called “Cabo de Hornos 1 data point”, delivered a year earlier by the Oceanographic Ship “Cabo de Hornos” of the Chilean Navy , considered as the most probable place from the moment of the disappearance of the ship.

Source: Elcomercio