By LETRE SWEETING

Tribune Staff Reporter

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE University of The Bahamas said it signed a memorandum of understanding with OceanGate, the company behind a missing submersible that has captured headlines worldwide, but never collaborated with the company on any project.

“We are deeply saddened by news of the missing Titan submersible and its passengers,” the university said in a statement to The Tribune.

“University of The Bahamas signed a memorandum of understanding with OceanGate Inc in 2018 for potential research and educational collaboration. However, no collaborative projects ever emerged.

“Like the rest of the world, we are watching this event and our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the five people onboard.”

The five people aboard the submersible that went missing on Sunday were presumed dead yesterday after debris from the vessel was found near the wreckage of the Titanic. A US Coast Guard official said the debris was “consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel”.

Yesterday, The Tribune reported OceanGate’s ties to The Bahamas, which includes an advertisement for a $45,000 Bahamas expedition in the Tongue of the Ocean involving the Titan submersible.

The company lists UB as a partner on its website, saying it involves “the development and execution of submersible expeditions and research-based programmes”.

The website features a quote from Dr Carlton Watson, the university’s dean of the faculty of pure and applied sciences, saying the partnership would “strengthen the university’s drive” in developing specialised programmes and other learning opportunities.

The Titan submersible imploded, killing all 5 on board, the US Coast Guard says

(AP) The submersible carrying five people to the Titanic imploded near the site of the shipwreck and killed everyone on board, authorities said Thursday, bringing a tragic end to a saga that included an urgent around-the-clock search and a worldwide vigil for the missing vessel.

The sliver of hope that remained for finding the five men alive was wiped away early Thursday, when the submersible's 96-hour supply of oxygen was expected to run out following its Sunday launch and the Coast Guard announced that debris had been found roughly 1,600 feet (488 metres) from the Titanic in North Atlantic waters.

"This was a catastrophic implosion of the vessel," said Rear Adm. John Mauger, of the First Coast Guard District.

After the craft was reported missing, the U.S. Navy went back and analysed its acoustic data and found an anomaly that was "consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general vicinity of where the Titan submersible was operating when communications were lost," a senior Navy official told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive acoustic detection system.

The Navy passed on that information to the Coast Guard, which continued its search because the Navy did not consider the data to be definitive.

OceanGate Expeditions, the company that owned and operated the submersible, said in a statement that all five people in the vessel, including CEO and pilot Stockton Rush, "have sadly been lost."

The others on board were two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood; British adventurer Hamish Harding; and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

"These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans," OceanGate said in a statement. "We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew."

OceanGate has been chronicling the Titanic's decay and the underwater ecosystem around it via yearly voyages since 2021. The company has not responded to additional questions about the Titan's voyage this week.

The company's office was "closed indefinitely while the staff copes with the tragic loss of their team member," according to a statement Thursday by the Port of Everett, which is about 30 miles (50 kilometres) north of downtown Seattle and is home to OceanGate.

The Coast Guard will continue searching for more signs about what happened to the Titan.

While the Navy likely detected the implosion Sunday through its acoustics system, underwater sounds heard Tuesday and Wednesday — which initially gave hope for a possible rescue — were probably unrelated to the submersible. The Navy's possible clue was not known publicly until Thursday, when The Wall Street Journal first reported it.

With a search area covering thousands of miles — twice the size of Connecticut and in waters 2 1/2 miles (4 kilometres) deep — rescuers all week rushed ships, planes and other equipment to the site of the disappearance.

Broadcasters around the world started newscasts at the critical hour Thursday with news of the submersible. The Saudi-owned satellite channel Al Arabiya showed a clock on air counting down to their estimate of when the air could potentially run out.

The White House thanked the U.S. Coast Guard, along with Canadian, British and French partners who helped in the search and rescue efforts.

"Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives on the Titan. They have been through a harrowing ordeal over the past few days, and we are keeping them in our thoughts and prayers," it said in a statement.

The Titan launched at 6 a.m. Sunday and was reported overdue that afternoon about 435 miles (700 kilometres) south of St. John's, Newfoundland. By Thursday, when the oxygen supply was expected to run out, there was little hope of finding the crew alive.

In 2021 and 2022, at least 46 people successfully traveled on OceanGate's submersible to the Titanic site, according to letters the company filed with a U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, that oversees matters involving the shipwreck. But questions about the submersible's safety were raised by former passengers.

One of the company's first customers likened a dive he made to the site two years ago to a suicide mission.

"Imagine a metal tube a few meters long with a sheet of metal for a floor. You can't stand. You can't kneel. Everyone is sitting close to or on top of each other," said Arthur Loibl, a retired businessman and adventurer from Germany. "You can't be claustrophobic."

During the 2 1/2-hour descent and ascent, the lights were turned off to conserve energy, he said, with the only illumination coming from a fluorescent glow stick.

The dive was repeatedly delayed to fix a problem with the battery and the balancing weights. In total, the voyage took 10 1/2 hours.

Nicolai Roterman, a deep-sea ecologist and lecturer in marine biology at the University of Portsmouth, England, said the disappearance of the Titan highlights the dangers and unknowns of deep-sea tourism.

"Even the most reliable technology can fail, and therefore accidents will happen," Roterman said. "With the growth in deep-sea tourism, we must expect more incidents like this."