Originally published June 21, 2023 2:00 pm PDT
The submersible has about a day’s worth of oxygen left.
QUICK FACTS:
- OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush said in 2020 that he opted for “inspiration” crew members over “a whole bunch of 50-year-old white guys” when creating the company.
- OceanGate operates the submarine now lost under the North Atlantic Ocean.
- “When I started business… other sub operators [were] out there but they typically [had] gentlemen who are ex-military submariners… a whole bunch of 50-year-old white guys,” Rush told technology company Teledyne Marine.
- “I wanted our team to be younger, to be inspirational… [A] 25-year-old who’s a sub pilot or a platform operator or one of our techs can be inspirational,” Rush stated, adding that he wanted his team to “have a variety of different backgrounds.”
- Rush is now one of several passengers aboard the Titan submersible vessel that went missing while on an expedition to view the Titanic.
- Other passengers on the vessel include British adventurer Hamish Harding, Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet, and Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, who are members of a Pakistani business family.
SEARCHING FOR THE TITAN:
- A Canadian military surveillance aircraft recently detected “underwater noises in the search area,” although underwater robots have been unsuccessful in investigating the location.
- “Banging sounds” were heard about every half an hour, according to the United States Coast Guard, leading some to hope that the passengers were still alive.
- “It sends a message that you’re probably using military techniques to find me and this is how I’m saying it,” said submarine search and rescue expert Frank Owen. “So, that’s really encouraging if that’s the case.”
- Another British adventurer initially paid a deposit to go on the Titan but later withdrew due to safety concerns.
- OceanGate was previously warned that the vessel had safety issues.
- A lawsuit from 2018 noted that the poor safety standards would “subject passengers to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible,” according to OceanGate’s director of marine operations David Lochridge.
- At the time, the vessel in question was a prototype and not the Titan.
BACKGROUND:
- Compared to the OceanGate CEO’s valuing diversity over experience, Twitter owner Elon Musk condemned woke ideology on the social media platform on Wednesday.
- After commentator James Esses tweeted that he was harassed after saying he did not want to be called “cis” for “cisgender,” Must tweeted that “Repeated, targeted harassment against any account will cause the harassing accounts to receive, at minimum, temporary suspensions.”
- “The words ‘cis’ or ‘cisgender’ are considered slurs on this platform,” he said.
- Esses thanked Musk for “standing up for reality.”
