A local marine safety advocate says there are many lessons to be learned from the Titan disaster to prevent any future loss of life in the growing interest in visiting the site of the Titanic over two miles below the surface of the water.
Merv Wiseman was reflecting on the one-year anniversary of the loss of the Titan and the deaths of the five people on board on VOCM Open Line with Paddy Daly.
The TSB publicly released a letter written to Transport Canada this week outlining its initial findings including that the Titan was not registered or certified in Canada despite being towed repeatedly to the Titanic dive site and other sites in and out of Canadian waters from Canadian ports by Canadian-registered vessels.
Wiseman says not only that, but there didn’t appear to be a safety plan in place in the event of an emergency or disaster.
“This is really extreme tourism dressed up as exploration; let’s call it what it is,” says Wiseman. “Even the crazy adventurers who decide to row to England in a bathtub have a better plan and more redundancies built into their safety measures, and exercise more pro-activity from the marine rescue centres than this particular guy had.”
The US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation, which is leading the probe into the Titan disaster, says two more salvage missions are needed to “secure vital evidence and the extensive forensic testing required” before its public hearings begin.