A US deep sea explorer who is among the handful of adventurers to travel to the deepest point on Earth says he would not have set foot in the missing submersible vessel that vanished on its way to the site of the Titanic shipwreck.
Kelly Walsh, 55, told The Independent the disappearance of the Titan less than two hours into a 4,000m dive in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday was “truly sad and avoidable”.
In 2020, Mr Walsh descended nearly 11,000m beneath the ocean surface to Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, 60 years after his father Don Walsh and French explorer Jacques Piccard became the first humans to reach the famous site.
He told The Independent he had watched the desperate rescue mission “in horror and sadness”, and personally knows two crew members onboard.
In the days since the OceanGate Expeditions submersible vessel lost contact with its support vessel, it has emerged that two former employees raised red flags about the construction of the 22-foot carbon fibre and titanium vessel.
CBS journalist David Pogue, who journeyed onboard the sub to the Titanic for a story in 2022, wrote that it “seemed improvised, with off-the-shelf parts”.
Stockton Rush, the CEO and founder of OceanGate Expeditions who is among the five missing crew members, insisted at the time the Titan was safe and that it was built “with Boeing and NASA and the University of Washington”.
NASA has since said it only consulted on materials and manufacturing, but did not conduct testing on the submersible.
Mr Walsh said there had been “so much speculation and talking-head opinion, some good, some bad” about the Titan’s disappearance.
“I am not in a position to give expert advice or opinion on the veracity of certain claims or rescue (and) recovery efforts, but I can say that the Titan sub was not something I would have dived in,” he told The Independent.
“And I would have taken the advice of the experts that the technology wasn’t ready, and that safety concerns were not being addressed.
“I hope they find them... but hopes are diminishing.”
Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard making their way to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in 1960— (NOAA Ship Collection)
In 2020, Mr Walsh was invited to join financier and adventurer Victor Vescovo on a dive to Challenger Deep in the western Pacific Ocean.
He described Mr Vescovo as a “visionary” who had overseen the construction of the Triton Submarine in Florida for the specific purpose of travelling to the deepest points in all five oceans.
After his father made the world’s first trip to Challenger Deep aboard the Trieste in January 1960, no-one returned to the site until 2012, whenTitanic filmmaker James Cameron made the first solo voyage in the Deepsea Challenger submersible.
Kelly Walsh after completing an 11,000m dive to Challenger Deep, the deepest location on Earth, in 2020— (Mike Moore / EYOS Experience)
Mr Walsh became the 11th person to make a successful dive to Challenger Deep in June 2020.
The 12-hour dive involved a four hour descent, four hours at the bottom and another four back to the surface in the 5-foot diameter titanium sphere.
The Triton had been built to exacting safety standards with alternative air sources, life support systems, and communications with the support ship which closely monitored its location.
“If we did get stuck on something, the design of the sub was such that we could jettison any external equipment to break free and float to the surface,” Mr Kelly said.
He recalls feeling no fear, but a sense of “awe and wonder” at reaching the bottom of the world, just as his father had six decades earlier.
“Any thoughts of danger were calmed by the thought that any critical failures would likely be immediate and we wouldn’t know what hit us. But the system was safe, tested, certified and had a proven track record of safety and successful dives to full ocean depth,” he said.
Mr Walsh said he knew there was a “very remote” chance he wouldn’t survive the voyage.
“But anyone doing this type of thing has to have in the back of their minds that possibility.”
Submersible pilot Randy Holt, and Stockton Rush, left, CEO of OceanGate Explorations, in the Titan— (Associated Press)
In addition to paying up to $250,000 per trip, passengers on board the OceanGate Expeditions trips to the Titanic had to sign extensive waiver forms in the event of a tragedy occurring.
“I just hope that they were given all relevant info before signing on, and that the misgivings were known to them beforehand,” he said.
“I am not involved with the expedition, and only hope for their safe return, despite the overwhelming stakes.”
A massive air, sea and underwater search and rescue operation in the North Atlantic Ocean is entering its fourth day, with oxygen levels onboard the Titan due to run out on Thursday.
British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman were onboard the submersible vessel with Mr Rush.
The search operation is being led by the US and Canadian CoastGuards, who have been flying reconnaissance flights and deployed sonar buoys to search for signs of life.
Faint banging sounds have been heard for the past two days, US Coast Guard captain Jamie Frederick told a press briefing on Wednesday.
The noises were being analysed by the US Navy, and efforts to locate their source them using underwater underwater remote operated vehicle (ROVs) had failed to find anything conclusive, Mr Frederick said.
Mr Walsh said the ocean exploration community was “not a Wild West endeavour with unsafe operators running amok”.
“One incident shouldn’t paint the entire community with the same brush,” he told The Independent.
“In the decades since Trieste there have been astonishingly few accidents or incidents. That record of safe operations doesn’t just happen overnight.”
