OceanGate took ‘too long’ to raise the alarm as the operation is entering its ‘closing stages’ to a ‘salvage mission’

The family of the British billionaire Hamish Harding has said that the eight hour delay by OceanGate to raise the alarm was “far too long.”

The Titan lost contact with the mothership Polar Prince at 09.40am on Sunday and it was not until 5.40pm OceanGate contacted the US Coast Guard.

Speaking to The Telegraph Kathleen Cosnett who is Harding’s cousin slammed OceanGate and said, “It’s very frightening.

“[It] took so long for them to get going to rescue [them], it’s far too long.”

She added that at least three hours “would be the bar minimum” and said it is “worrying” that the five in the Titan “may not have any extra oxygen left.

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A former Royal Navy submarine captain has warned that the situation in the North Atlantic Ocean is “bleak” and the operation will turn to being a “salvage mission.”

Ex-commander Ryan Ramsey said “that’s the only world for it as this tragic event unfolds” and added, the operation is “almost the closing stages of where this changes from rescue to a salvage mission.”

BREAKING NEWS:

OceanGate used a hand ratchet to seal the missing Titanic submarine, Titan.#Titan #OceanGateTitan #Titanic #missingsubmarine pic.twitter.com/0tOLGNLrKH

— The Highlight (@thehighlight0) June 22, 2023

Ramsey said the vessels involved in the search and rescue mission will keep looking “for many days,” but warned “the reality is if you base it off oxygen alone, then they’re out of oxygen.”

He added, “Carbon dioxide is also a critical element to it as well as the cold. It would be a miracle if there were survivors from it.”

the titan submarine is controlled by Bluetooth with an old video game controller pic.twitter.com/AN73reFA19

— Richard B. Long (@intell911) June 20, 2023

He also suggested the search for Titan may have been affected by delays in resources getting to the area.

He made reference to what happened to the Russian submarine “the Kursk in 2000,” which killed al 118 Russian crew.

Ramsey said, The reason that we were able to rapidly deploy within 24 hours to that site was because they rapidly deployed the equipment immediately and that didn’t happen on this occasion.

“They probably lost two or three days getting equipment or ships there.”