Scientist calls for shutdown of Titanic expeditions while Titan catastrophe is examined

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An American scientist who boarded a submersible to the Titanic more than two decades ago has urged governments to shut down all undersea expeditions to the historic wreck until authorities determine what caused the catastrophic implosion of the Titan submersible.

Dr Michael Guillen made his Titanic descent in 2000 in a three-man scientific research vessel, and said he believes all tourism and scientific undersea submersibles should now be halted.

Dr Michael Guillen made his Titanic descent in 2000 and almost perished.Credit: CNN/YouTube

“When the US Space Shuttle Challenger exploded … we shut down the entire US space program to figure out what went wrong. I think that’s what we need to do now.”

The search for the missing Titan submersible and its five passengers took a bleak turn early on Friday AEST when authorities announced that a debris field was found at the bottom of the ocean near the Titanic.

A short time later OceanGate, the Titan’s operator, released a statement acknowledging that the five lives had been claimed by the ocean’s depths.

“We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost,” OceanGate said in a statement.

“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans. Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time.”

Reflecting on his 2000 descent to the Titanic, Dr Guillen said he felt immense empathy for the five passengers on board the Titan because his expedition nearly met its own catastrophic fate after becoming caught in the propeller of the 1912 luxury liner’s tomb.

For the two and a half hours it took to descend to the wreckage, he recalls the dive as faultless. But problems emerged as the submersible moved from the bow of the Titanic towards the stern.

“Our sub got caught in an underwater current, and it slammed us right into the blade of that giant propeller. We became stuck. Huge pieces of the Titanic started falling on us, and I knew pretty quickly that … this was a major life-threatening crisis,” he said.

Dr Michael Guillen, former ABC News correspondent, went down to see the Titanic 23 years ago and hit a snag when his submersible was caught on the Titanic’s propeller.

“At two and a half miles below the surface, there isn’t any way to get you out. And so I felt an enormous sadness at that point.”

“I thought of my wife who I had just married, of all the things I’d done in life and how odd that this would be the place where I would end my life,” Dr Guillen said.

It took the better part of an hour for the vessel’s pilot to jockey the submersible free from the propeller.

Dr Guillen said he could not compare his own scientific vessel with the Titan tourist submersible because they were like “night and day.”

“[The Titan] wasn’t designed for scientific research. It was designed for tourism [and] for profit. And that to me, makes all the difference in the world,” he said.

“Whether it’s a company or a government, we need to shut down trips to the Titanic instantly and figure out what went wrong.”

Speaking from his home in Dallas, Dr Guillen said he had spent the week grieving for the passengers and felt an immense empathy with them.

“It’s almost as if I have to relive that … all over again, and I’m down there with them. And it’s just horrible.”

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