The U.S. Coast Guard announced Thursday that an ROV found debris from OceanGate’s Titan 1,600 feet away from the Titanic.
ABC15 spoke with retired U.S. Navy Master Chief Diver Jim Phalin who watched the search with a unique perspective, as an experimental diver with vast knowledge of the strength of the ocean.
“I was thinking they were either tangled up on the wreck somehow or something catastrophic,” said Phalin, who is now the Executive Director of the Navy Divers Association.
He told ABC15 there are many things that can happen down at that depth.
“It is so far beyond what humans can actually dive to,” said Phalin.
Phalin and many others have explained that the conditions where debris from the Titan was found, about two miles underwater, are harsh.
“It is... there’s zero visibility,” said Phalin. “It’s cold.”
It’s also a depth that is hard to reach.
“Nobody can get to you,” said Phalin. “This proves it. Nobody can get to you if something happens. No matter how much you plan, nobody is going to get to you quickly at all.”
The U.S. Coast Guard has been leading this international effort and made the announcement that the debris signaled a catastrophic implosion had occurred.
The Coast Guard said at an afternoon press conference that when the discovery was made, they immediately let the families of the five crew members know.
ABC15 asked Phalin if the families should be hoping to get anything back from the wreck.
“I wouldn’t hope to get anything back,” said Phalin. “I would just be grateful that they died instantly.”
OceanGate released a statement confirming the deaths of all five passengers. The company described the men as “true explorers."
As for the risks, Phalin thinks those crew members understood that something like this could happen.
“I think they did, there were a lot of highly respected people on that crew,” said Phalin.
But many are raising questions about OceanGate and if trips to these depths should continue.
Phalin, who also served as an experimental diver, was trained with well-rehearsed safety measures in place.
“I think just making sure that everything is not off the shelf, that if this ever comes up again to building a submersible to go down that deep it gets some sort of certification,” said Phalin.
He told ABC15 if it’s experimental, an unmanned submersible could be tested until it’s proven safe.
