Criticisms surrounding the tragedy of the Titan submersible are yet to be addressed by OceanGate.
It comes after court documents show that the owners of the submersible were warned on more than one occasion of the safety issues around the vessel. Debris was discovered on Thursday on the North Atlantic Ocean sea floor, with experts now concluding that the submarine likely suffered an implosion.
Questions are now also being raised as to whether there should be any changes to safety regulations or inspections, potentially to prevent a similar tragedy from happening ever again, the Mirror reports.
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The adventure company said on Sunday: "We are exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely. Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families.
"We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible. We are working toward the safe return of the crewmembers."
Why is there a lack of safety regulations?
Concerns over the apparent disregard over crucial safety aspects relating to the vessel have raised questions as to why more rigorous safety measures are not in place. Guillermo Sohnlein, co-founder of OceanGate Expeditions, the parent company of the Titan submarine, said it is "tricky to navigate" the current regulations on submersibles.
Speaking to Times Radio, he said: "It’s too early to tell, there’s data that’s going to have to be collected over the coming days, weeks and months, and I’m sure the team will work with whoever is conducting the investigations to cooperate and provide as much information as possible.
“At that point, we’ll be in a better position to tell (what went wrong).”
When asked about the regulations surrounding submersibles, he said: “There are regulations in place but as you can imagine there aren’t many subs that go that deep, so the regulations are pretty sparse and many of them are antiquated and designed for specific instances.
“It’s tricky to navigate those regulatory schemes.”
How was the Titan allowed to depart?
Concerns over the Titan being allowed to depart despite the risks has raised concerns. Admiral Sir James Burnell-Nugent, former Commander-in-Chief Fleet of the Royal Navy, suggested Titan could have "imploded".
He said: "The nature of the announcement suggests this debris is in some way connected with the Titan."
He added: "There is of course a large debris field around the Titanic - and the various things we've seen retrieved from the Titanic have come from the debris field. It covers several hectares.
"But I think if this was Titanic debris, the Coast Guard would have made a distinction in the announcement. I think on balance this is probably grim news and suggests the Titan might have imploded under the immense pressure of the seawater while it was on its way down."
Where exactly did it go missing?
Titan lost contact around an hour and 45 minutes after it submerged. Despite this, it's not clear where the vessel exactly went missing.
The vessel was using Elon Musk's Starlink satellite technology to communicate, however, it's not yet clear if this was the cause for the loss of contact. Early indications suggest the submersible would travel south across the Grand Banks of Newfoundland to submerge near the Newfoundland Ridge, as the wreckage is just west of this seafloor mountain system.
Can the bodies be recovered?
It is not yet clear if the bodies of the vessel's five passengers can be recovered. This is due to the "incredibly unforgiving environment" the submersible is in.
Rear Admiral John Mauger, of the US Coast Guard, has said: "This is an incredibly unforgiving environment out there on the sea floor. The debris is consistent with the catastrophic implosion of the vessel. We will continue to work and search the area down there but I don’t have an answer on prospects at this time."
What happens next?
Over the next 48 hours, remotely operated vehicles (ROV) used in the mission will remain for the next 48 hours, however, the operation will cease after that, according to authorities.
It is not yet clear what steps will be taken after this point. OceanGate is yet to comment on what it plans to do.
