Imploded

In the end, this is about five wealthy white men on a costly but perilous adventure.

Booking a ride on the small submersible Titan set back adventurers a quarter of a million dollars each. For a few hours, the 22-foot long craft would descend to where the wreckage of the legendary Titanic lay deep under water. Through one peephole in the cramped vessel, passengers could peer out and examine the rusting carcass of a large passenger ship that crashed into an iceberg over a century ago.

Last Thursday, robotic submarines sent to help in the massive multinational rescue effort located the debris field of what remained of the Titan. The debris field indicated the vessel had a “catastrophic implosion.” There is low probability the bodies of the five passengers of the submersible could be recovered.

A couple of hours after the Titan began its descent, it lost contact with its mother ship. A frantic rescue effort involving research ships and at least two unmanned submarines were mobilized. The effort involved ships from Canada, the United States and France.

From Sunday to the discovery of the debris field Thursday, the massive rescue effort grabbed the world’s attention. With each passing minute, the crew’s chances of survival narrowed. The Titan had about 70 hours of oxygen in its pressurized cabin. At most, the oxygen supply could be extended to 90 hours.

The five onboard the Titan included billionaire and adventurer Hamish Harding, Pakistani-British businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year old son Suleman, Stockton Rush, who was CEO of OceanGate that owned the Titan and underwater explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet.

Titanic’s wreckage lies 3,800 meters below the surface, far lower than most submarines could descend. It is reported that the Titan was at about 3500 meters when it lost contact.

The US Navy, using top secret equipment, detected an “acoustic signature” of what seemed to be an implosion last Sunday and informed the rescue contingent about it. The rescue mission proceeded nevertheless, clinging the the slightest sliver of hope that crew could be saved from the icy waters off Newfoundland.

The Titan has been the subject of controversy for months. The vessel used recycled material that was deemed by some experts to be inadequate for the mission intended. But the vessel had done several dives before and managed to return to the surface intact.

We all know that the deeper one descends into the ocean, the greater the water pressure will be. At the depth where the Titan imploded, water pressure is about 300 times what it is on the surface. With such pressure bearing on the craft, any weak point in its hull could give way, leading to a violent implosion. A microscopic flaw could be the culprit.

After this tragedy, expect comprehensive investigations to be called. Governments will look into the possibility of an international panel accrediting the worthiness of submersibles.

Migrants drowning

At about the time the impressive rescue operation for the Titan was underway, two barely seaworthy boats carrying hundreds of migrants seeking passage to Europe sunk.

Off the coast of Greece, at least 78 people are feared to have died when a boat carrying Pakistanis and Africans sank. According to the UN, as many as 500 migrants are missing.

The UN is criticizing Greece for failing to initiate a full-scale rescue attempt that might have mitigated the loss of life. Greek authorities, for their part, say those on board the ill-fated ships did not want help and did not appear to be in danger.

Every week, it seems, a migrant boat sinks in the Mediterranean carrying poor people from Africa and beyond. The heavy migration is not only due to the push factor of poverty in the homeland. People are encouraged to migrate by large criminal syndicates involved in human smuggling. Most of these migrants paid smugglers humongous sums of money for a perilous boat ride to Europe.

In the other incident, charity organizations estimate that about 30 migrants died when their boat sank off the Canary Islands. They were traveling from Morocco to Spain. This migration route through the turbulent Atlantic Ocean is considered the world’s deadliest. The UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that for 2022 alone, 523 migrants either died or went missing along this particular route.

Spain, Italy and Greece have deployed nearly full-time maritime assets to rescue migrants in distress. Whole communities have been mobilized to care for migrant arrivals. Still, we continue to be treated to numbing reports of seaborne migrants dying on the way.

As in the US border with Mexico, there continue to be thousands of migrants willing to risk the grave dangers of fleeing their homelands. They are not there to satisfy some craving for adventure. They are in search of a better life.

There is no instant formula to stem the migrant outflow from poor to rich countries. Opportunity abroad contrasting with hopelessness at home is a strong push factor. The labor needs of the industrial economies is a strong pull factor.

Over time, poverty-driven migration from south to north will dramatically alter the population profiles of Europe and North America. It will inevitably bring profound changes to the culture and politics of the industrial economies unable to fully replenish their labor force.

Almost always, migration is a story filled with challenge and courage. But, as we saw last week, rescuing distressed migrants tends to be scarcely noticed compared to the intensive coverage of the five men aboard a faulty submersible.