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Titan passengers share eerie accounts of safety issues on the submersible's past expeditions

The Titan was touted as a groundbreaking submersible that could give tourists the extraordinary chance to visit the deep-sea grave of the Titanic — but past passengers have shared chilling accounts of safety issues, communication failures and design concerns.

The desperate search for the missing submersible ended Thursday with the Coast Guard announcing that debris from the vessel was found. The five passengers are presumed dead.

It brings a close to the four-day race to find the Titan after it lost contact with its mother ship during a Sunday dive to the Titanic, 12,500 feet below the surface.

The 21-foot, carbon fiber and titanium submersible fit five people, with no seats and a curtained-off area for a makeshift bathroom.

Malfunctions left passengers like 'sitting ducks'

Brian Weed, 42, a camera operator for Discovery Channel’s “Expedition Unknown,” did a test dive on the Titan in May 2021 and said, “The moment we started the test dive, things started going wrong.”

The submersible descended, but not all the way to the shipwreck.

The launch was “clumsy,” and less than a quarter of the dive in, “there were malfunctions with the propulsion system,” leaving the passengers like “sitting ducks in the water,” Weed said. 

“This was supposedly two months before they were supposed to take their first dive down to the Titanic, and that was very worrying for me. We were supposed to be on one of those first dives,” he said. 

He was also concerned that the door was bolted from the outside, saying, “There’s still a potential that there’s no way out even if you’re on the surface.”

But it was the allure of the Titanic — the ocean liner that sank on its maiden voyage from England to New York in 1912 — that drew him to the project.

“The thought of going down and seeing the Titanic really clouds your mind. You want this to be possible. You want this to be true. Your brain is willing to overlook some really glaring problems,” he said.

“The thought of going down and seeing the Titanic really clouds your mind. You want this to be possible. You want this to be true. Your brain is willing to overlook some really glaring problems.”

Weed declined an invitation to dive again a week later.  

Weed, no stranger to risky situations, said that “something about this felt like there wasn’t a plan” and that “the reward is not worth the risk.”

Josh Gates, the host of “Expedition Unknown,” told NBC News’ Tom Costello on that dive: “We had issues with thruster control. We had issues with the computers aboard. We had issues with comms."

“I just felt as though the sub needed more time and it needed more testing, frankly,” he said.

OceanGate completed successful expeditions to the wreckage in 2021 and 2022 before the Titian disappeared on the third trip.

Lost communications; wandering for hours underwater

Colin Taylor, who went on the submersible when it explored the Titanic site last July with his 22-year-old son, described the communication system as “very difficult.”

“There’s a text-based communication system that’s two-way, very slow,” he said. “I mean, when you’re sending signals through that amount of water, it’s very, very difficult.”

Mike Reiss, a writer and producer who has worked on “The Simpsons,” told ABC News he went on four 10-hour dives with OceanGate, including to the Titanic. The crews lost communication with the host ship each time.

When his vessel touched the bottom of the ocean on one of his OceanGate journeys to the Hudson Canyon, “a loud squawk came on the radio,” he recalled in an e pisode of the podcast “What Am I Doing Here?” that aired a year ago.

“The sonar, the computers, the lights all stopped working. We went back to the surface immediately,” he said.

Two years later, he took another expedition to the Titanic site in the submersible, describing it as “a car that you drunkenly drove into the ocean” steered by a video game controller.

When the team touched down, they faced a myriad of issues.

"We were nowhere near the Titanic. There were underwater currents pushing us farther and farther in the wrong direction. The sonar wasn’t working, and the compass kept flopping from east to west, north to south," he said. "There was also a time crunch. We started late, and there was a hurricane rolling in on the surface.”

David Pogue, a CBS News correspondent, tweeted that last year the submersible got “lost on the seafloor" for about five hours when he was on an OceanGate expedition to the Titanic’s resting place. A segment on the trip aired in November . 

Pogue wasn’t in the Titan — he was in a control room on a ship at the surface.

“They could still send short texts to the sub, but did not know where it was. It was quiet and very tense,”  he tweeted  Monday.

Former employee warned Titan's shell wasn't tested to descend deep safely

A former OceanGate pilot, David Lochridge, who was hired to run manned tests of submersibles, claimed five years ago in court papers that he was fired after he warned that the Titan’s carbon shell was not properly tested to ensure it could descend safely to 4,000 meters, the estimated depth of the Titanic. 

He also claimed OceanGate refused to pay extra for a viewport that could be used safely at a depth of 4,000 meters.

When he complained that OceanGate would be endangering customers, Lochridge said in the court papers, he was given “10 minutes to immediately clear out his desk.”

Lochridge’s claims, which were first reported by  The New Republic , were in his counterclaim to a 2018 breach of contract lawsuit OceanGate filed saying he was not an engineer. The two sides settled a few months later. The details of the settlement were unclear.

Expeditions are always a 'risk'

Aaron Newman, a former passenger on the missing Titan and an investor in OceanGate, said he felt “safe” during his journey but acknowledged that risks are involved in such expeditions.

“They were a professional crew. They did a lot of training around safety and the backup systems around dropping weights,” Newman said. “We’re going places that a very few people have been. This is inventing things. There are risks, right? And we know that.”

Newman said the explorers on the missing submersible — OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, French dive expert Paul Henry Nargeolet, and prominent Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman — are a “good set of people” who were likely doing what they could “to stay alive.”

Arthur Loibl, 61, a retired businessman and adventurer from Germany, went on a voyage to the Titanic site in 2021 with Rush and Nargeolet, he told The Associated Press . 

He said that while he was able to get a view of the iconic ocean liner, in hindsight he felt “a bit dubious” about how the dive was carried out. 

“I was a bit naive, looking back now,” he said. “It was a kamikaze operation.”

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Melissa Chan is a reporter for NBC News Digital with a focus on veterans’ issues, mental health in the military and gun violence.

NEWS... BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT

Loud banging and 360 degree spins: Inside the horrifying history of Titan sub dives

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The OceanGate submersible Titan that went missing on an expedition to the Titanic shipwreck suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion’.

Five passengers were on the Titan when it went missing in the North Atlantic Ocean on Sunday, June 18 – and a days-long rescue mission ensued in a bid to save them, before it was concluded all five lives were lost.

The passengers embarking on the expedition were British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding , French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet , Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, his 19-year-old son Suleman, and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.

Debris from the Titan has now been recovered following the tragic incident – with new details emerging on what it was like inside the 22ft-long sub during the dive , and what the crew’s final moments may have been like .

However, this trip was not the first time that the Titan submersible had been on voyage to explore the infamous shipwreck and a BBC documentary has revealed that on a previous mission, the vessel span out of control.

But how many times had it visited the Titanic before?

How many times did the Titan go to the Titanic?

The Titan made the voyage to the Titanic three times , once a year since 2021.

Sorry, this video isn't available any more.

The trip, which cost around $250,000 (£195,000) , was intended as an annual event which allowed tourists to see the shipwreck up close.

OceanGate has previously stated that the Titan completed over 50 test dives, including to depths similar to those of the Titanic, both in waters around the Bahamas as well as in a pressure chamber.

However, previous trips in the Titan also encountered issues , which had raised concerns about the safety of the vessel .

Reporter David Pogue was onboard the vessel in 2022 when communication was lost with the main ship for two and a half hours.

He later challenged Mr Rush in an interview, saying: ‘It seems like this submersible has some elements of MacGyver jerry-riggedness’.

Additionally, a BBC documentary shows footage of the sub losing contol and spinning 360 degrees on a previous trip.

The concerned pilot told the adventurers: ‘I don’t know what’s going on, I feel like… I don’t know what’s going on. 

‘There’s something wrong with my thrusters. I’m thrusting and nothing is happening.’

The documentary also shows the OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, downplayed really loud banging noises on a previous mission.

Titan was driven by a reinforced Logitech game controller and touch screens, and the dive was said to have taken place in darkness in a bid to save battery power on lighting .

Crew members communicated with the mothership via text message and there was no GPS system.

Mr Rush previously said: ‘We’ve taken a completely new approach to the sub design and it’s all run with this game controller and these touch screens. 

‘It’s bluetooth so I can hand it to anybody and it’s meant for a 16-year-old to throw it around and super durable. We keep a couple of spares on board just in case.’

It is also believed that bluetooth speakers were used to play music during the expeditions.

How deep is the wreck of the Titanic?

The wreck of the Titanic lies at a depth of about 12,500 feet (3,800 metres).

It is located around 370 nautical miles (690km) south-southeast off the coast of Newfoundland, with the ship lying in two parts around 2,000 feet apart.

The boat sank in the early hours of April 15, 1912, during its maiden voyage, after a collision with an iceberg.

However, the wreck was not discovered until September 1, 1985 , during a joint mission between the US’s Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and French National Institute of Oceanography

Team leaders Dr. Robert D. Ballard of WHOI and Jean Louis Michel of IFREMER researched the history of the  Titanic  disaster and had a thorough knowledge of the ship and of previous efforts to find her. They narrowed the search field to 100 square miles.

Rather than search for one large object – Titanic’s massive hull – they used imaging tools and the newly developed sonar and video camera system  Argo , to scour the seafloor for debris dispersed from the wreck in the current.

Just after 1am on September 1, 1985, they identified one of Titanic’s boilers, confirming the wreck had been found. 

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Patents, lawsuits, safety concerns — then tragedy. A timeline of OceanGate's Titan sub.

A mission to explore the remains of the Titanic went horribly awry on June 18, riveting the world as search crews raced against time to find a submersible that vanished during an attempted dive to the ocean floor, where paying passengers and Stockton Rush III, founder of the submersible company OceanGate, could view the Titanic wreckage.

On Thursday the U.S. Coast Guard announced pieces of the submersible were found scattered across a debris field a third of a mile from the Titanic . OceanGate issued a statement saying, "We grieve the loss of life" of those aboard.

Also aboard the vessel were French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet, British explorer and jet dealer Hamish Harding and Shahzada Dawood of a prominent Pakistani family and his son Suleman.

Records show the tragedy was preceded by a long path toward developing a craft that would reach the ocean depths where the Titanic rests. They also show a history of safety concerns .

Retrace the development of OceanGate, a Bahamian-registered corporation, and its submersibles, and the search for the missing Titan, with this timeline.

2009: OceanGate is founded

A provider of manned deep-sea submersibles, OceanGate starts operations on the West Coast, the company has stated in news releases. Its founder is Stockton Rush III, who graduated from Princeton University with a BSE in aerospace, aeronautical and astronautical engineering in 1984 and obtained an MBA at the University of California Berkeley's Haas School of Business in 1989, according to his biography on OceanGate’s website.

February 2012: OceanGate expands to Florida and the Caribbean

It's registered as a corporation in Miami, with Guillermo Sohnlein as president and Rush as secretary. Documents state the company incorporated in Washington State in Dec. 2011.

May 2013: Collaboration announced with University of Washington

OceanGate says it will collaborate with the school's Applied Physics Lab on Project Cyclops I, a new 3000-meter 5-person submersible. (The University clarified on June 23 that they only completed about $650,000 worth of work on a $5 million research collaborative agreement before parting ways. The collaboration resulted in a steel-hulled vessel that can only travel to a depth of 500 meters, the University stated.)

June 2013: Studies invasive fish

OceanGate teams up with Nova Southeastern University to study invasive lionfish in Florida.

August 2013: Submersible feasibility study concludes

OceanGate announces University of Washington completes design feasibility study for hull design for Cyclops I submersible.

June 2015: Report published on submersible

Rush and science and technology director Erika Montague, publish a report on Cyclops I with Peter Brodsky, an engineer at the University of Washington. 

November 2015: Some of the earliest paying customers sign up for trip

Marc and Sharon Hagle sign a contract and pay $10,000 deposits to OceanGate to participate in an expedition to the Titanic. 

June 2016: OceanGate submersible dives to wreck

One of the company's submersibles dives over the wreck of the Andrea Doria off Nantucket.

March 2017: OceanGate announces Titanic dive

Company announces it will conduct the first manned submersible dives to Titanic since 2005, and that private citizens may join the expedition as mission specialists for $105,129 each.

Mid-2017: Refund or not?

The Hagles begin pondering whether to ask OceanGate for a refund of their deposit. Rush visits their home to reassure them.

August 2017: One step completed

OceanGate completes assembly of core pressure vessel, bonding two titanium rings to the ends of a 56-inch wide, 100-inch-long carbon-fiber cylinder.

January 2018: Launch and recovery testing

OceanGate tweets it successfully tested the launch and recovery platform of Cyclops 2.

February 2018: Cyclops 2 becomes Titan

Engineering team hands over Cyclops 2 to operations team, renames submersible vessel.

The Hagles wire OceanGate an additional $190,258 to pay for their planned Titan expedition. 

March 2018: Safety concerns raised

A trade group, the Marine Technology Society, sends a letter to OceanGate — Reported by the New York Times in June 2023 — to express unanimous concern regarding development of the Titan submersible and its planned Titanic Expedition.

April 2018: Expedition canceled

Hagles say OceanGate cancels June 2-9, 2018 expedition and reschedules it to July 2019.

July 2018: Lawsuit emerges

OceanGate sues former director of marine operations David Lochridge and his wife, Carole Reid Lochridge in Washington state .

August 2018: Safety concerns

Lochridges file a counterclaim in the lawsuit, alleging a series of safety concerns about the Titan submersible .

November 2018: Case dismissed

Parties settle in the OceanGate v. Lochridge case.

December 2018: Another milestone

CBS This Morning publishes a story saying Rush reached a depth of 13,000 feet during a dive in the Titan in the Bahamas, a key milestone in his plan to dive to the Titanic in 2019.

April 2019: A new patent

U.S. Patent Office assigns OceanGate a patent for systems to recover objects in aquatic environments.

June 2019: Expedition delay

OceanGate delays 2019 Titanic expedition, says it will take place in June 2020.

October 2019: Expedition canceled

Hagles receive email saying OceanGate cancels 2020 expedition.

January 2020: Raising money

OceanGate announces it has raised $18 million in equity financing, which it will use to expand its fleet of deep-sea submersibles to set the stage for 2021 dives to the Titanic.

February 2020: NASA to partner

NASA announces it will partner with OceanGate to develop and manufacture new carbon fiber pressure vessels. (NASA told USA TODAY on June 23 that it "consulted on materials and manufacturing processes for the submersible." Lance Davis, acting news chief for the Marshall Space Flight Center, said the agency "did not conduct testing and manufacturing via its workforce or facilities, which were done elsewhere by OceanGate.")

November 2020: Tourist dives to start

Dozens of international news stories say OceanGate will start its first tourist dives to the Titanic in 2021.

March 2021: Astronaut joins expedition

OceanGate and NASA astronaut and physician Dr. Scott Parazynski announce he will join the Titanic expedition. 

May 2021: OceanGate provides plans to federal overseer

The U.S. District Court oversees legal issues involving the Titanic under an open 1993 court case. In May 2021, David Concannon, a legal and operations consultant to OceanGate, sent a letter to the court outlining its expedition plans, saying it will be "the first of many" and will be conducted under NOAA guidelines.

"The exploration team will conduct annual surveys of the wreck in collaboration with scientific and imaging experts from multiple organizations as part of an on-going long-term study to document the current conditionof the Titanic maritime heritage site."

The letter assured the court the vessel would not move or retrieve any artifacts and would deposit any ballast "well clear of the wreck and debris field." It ended with an invitation to the judge to join the expedition as a guest of OceanGate.

June 2021: Another patent

U.S. patent issued to OceanGate for systems and methods for launching and recovering objects in aquatic environments.

July 2021: Titanic success

OceanGate completes its first submersible dive to the Titanic, with a team that includes Rush, Scott Griffith and PH Nargeolet, a former French Naval commander and submersible pilot. The company says a series of yearly expeditions will help record the Titanic’s rate of decay and map the artifacts found on the site.

September 2021: A patent for monitoring integrity

OceanGate receives patent for systems for curing, testing, validating, rating and monitoring the integrity of composite structures.

November 2021: Tickets for sale for next expedition

OceanGate announces 2022 expedition to Titanic , price to ride rises to $250,000. 

May 2022: OceanGate updates court on expedition plans

OceanGate sends a letter notifying the District Court that it plans five photographic and scientific survey "missions" to the wreck site of the Titanic during the summer of 2022 and includes a copy of its draft science plan.

"Every effort will be made to avoid contact with the wreck itself, and no artifacts or scientific samples will be collected from the wreck itself. However, this year the expedition does plan to take free floating water samples throughout the water column and on the bottom, as part of  OceanGate’s scientific efforts to collect environmental DNA in conjunction with its partners at the University of North Carolina and University of Edinburgh."

July 2022: Expedition encounters difficulties

CBS correspondent David Pogue goes on a Titanic expedition with OceanGate . On one dive, the submersible never finds the Titanic .

August 2022: Video shows submersible dive

OceanGate releases high definition video from its 2022 trip to the Titanic.

January 2023: A tally of dives so far

A Guardian story reports OceanGate Expeditions has taken about 60 customers and 15-20 researchers down to the Titanic in its submersible. 

February 2023: Couple alleges fraudulent inducement

The Hagles sue Rush in Orange County, Florida circuit court, alleging fraudulent inducement and violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

April 2023: OceanGate sends 2023 plan to court

Concannon sends a letter to the District Court saying the 2023 expedition will begin in early May and continue in 8-day segments through the end of June.

"Each dive will consist of the deployment of the 5-person submersible Titan, which has a 4,000m/13,120 ft. depth capability (with a comfortable safety margin). Constructed of titanium and filament wound carbon fiber, the innovative vessel has proven to be a safe and comfortable vessel proven to withstand the enormous pressures of the deep ocean," the letter states.

The participating scientists and archaeologists on previous dives "are compiling and analyzing theirfindings. The company and science team collaborated with eDNAtec, headquartered in St. John’s Newfoundland, to analyze environmental DNA found in water samples collected near the wreck and at a natural reef site nearby. This collaboration will continue in 2023. eDNAtec intends to make all gene sequences available through GenBank at the conclusion of their analysis."

May 26, 2023: Titanic expedition underway

Ocean Gate Expeditions tweets a photo of 24 people on deck, saying: "It's been an exciting week with our Mission 2 crew!"

June 1, 2023: In the 'middle of the North Atlantic'

OceanGate Expeditions tweets "Despite being in the middle of the North Atlantic, we have the internet connection we need to make our #Titanic dive operations a success - thank you @Starlink!"

June 15, 2023: Missions underway

OceanGate tweets: "Despite being in the middle of the North Atlantic, we have the internet connection we need to make our #Titanic dive operations a success - thank you @Starlink !"

June 17, 2023: Harding posts dive planned next day

Hamish Harding, chairman of Action Aviation, posts on Facebook that he has joined OceanGate Expeditions for the Titan mission and will be on an attempted dive on June 18.

June 18, 2023: Day ends in disaster

8:00 a.m. – Titan begins a descent from the Canadian research vessel the Polar Prince to the Titanic wreck, a trip expected to take two hours to reach the ocean floor, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

9:45 a.m. – Communications cease between the Titan and its mothership , about 90 minutes into the trip.

Unknown time – Navy acoustic equipment detects an "anomaly" in the vicinity of the site.

3:00 p.m. – Titan fails to appear at the expected time for resurfacing

5:40 p.m. – Coast Guard receives a report on an overdue 21-foot submersible, with five people on board, diving to view the wreckage of the Titanic , approximately 900 nautical miles East of Cape Cod.  

June 19, 2023: Search underway

Coast Guard says one of its C-130 Hercules aircraft and crew, as well as a Canadian P8 aircraft with underwater sonar capability, are searching for the submersible.

June 20, 2023: Hope flares

The Canadian aircraft reports hearing "underwater noises in the search area."

Coast Guard establishes a command to help coordinate multiple vessels conducting search operations, says 10,000 square miles have been searched, including a Bahamian research vessel using a remotely operated vehicle and another C-130 crew. Coast Guard reports eight vessels enroute, including five Canadian ships, a French research vessel, the motor vessel Horizon Arctic and the commercial vessel Skandi Vinland.

June 21, 2023: Search continues

Coast Guard reports a third C-130 enroute, as well as a Magellan ROV. The Navy is sending experts and a Deep Ocean Salvage System designed to lift underwater objects.

June 22, 2023: Debris field located

11:48 a.m. Coast Guard announces a debris field has been discovered by an ROV from the Horizon Arctic near the Titanic, likely the result of a catastrophic implosion.

OceanGate announces the crew of the Titan has been lost.

June 23, 2023: Lawsuit dropped

The Hagles, adventurers who became the first married couple on a commercial spaceflight last year , drop their lawsuit. They state: “Money is a driving force in our economy, but honor, respect and dignity are more important to the human soul."

June 24, 2023: Canada to investigate

Canada's Transportation Safety Board says it will investigate the Polar Prince , Titan's mothership, owned by Horizon Maritime. The company also owns the Horizon Arctic, the ship whose crew found the Titan wreckage.

June 25, 2023: Coast Guard to investigate

The Coast Guard says its Marine Board of Investigation will lead an investigation into the loss of the Titan. The MBI'S chairman, Capt. Jason Neubauer, says his primary goal is to "prevent a similar occurrence by making the necessary recommendations to advance the safety of the maritime domain worldwide."

June 28, 2023: Titan debris recovered

The Horizon Arctic vessel brings pieces of the Titan back to shore in St. John's, Newfoundland. After consulting with international partners, the Coast Guard intends to take the evidence to a U.S. port for further analysis and testing. A news release says medical professionals will conduct " a formal analysis of presumed human remains that have been carefully recovered within the wreckage ."

July 2, 2023: OceanGate shutting down

OceanGate Expeditions updates its website to say it is ceasing operations .

Contributing: Grace Hauck

Missing sub: Mapping and visualizing debris found near titanic

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Get an Inside Look at OceanGate's 'Titan' Submersible: Photos and Details

From exactly how big it is to how it's operated by a game controller at the surface, here’s everything to know

Alamy Stock Photo

OceanGate is making headlines after its Titan submersible went missing on June 18, following a dive to visit the Titanic wreckage. 

Founded in 2009 by Stockton Rush, who is one of the passengers on board the missing vessel, the company hosts a “Titanic Expedition” to the historic site where “qualified explorers have the opportunity to join the expedition as Mission Specialist crewmembers whose Training and Mission Support Fees underwrite the mission, the participation of the science team, and their own training,” OceanGate Expeditions states on their website .

However, the recent trip quickly went awry as almost two hours after the vessel’s dive, the crew of Titan ’s support vessel, the Polar Prince, lost contact . 

As the U.S. Coast Guard in Boston undergoes a search and rescue operation, new information has come to light about the infamous vessel, which CBS Sunday Morning correspondent David Pogue previously boarded for a segment in 2022. 

From its size to the safety measures in place, here’s everything to know about the Titan submersible, including photos inside.

How big is the Titan submersible? 

Ocean Gate / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Per OceanGate’s website , the Titan is 22-ft. long x 9.2-ft. wide x 8.3-ft. high. To put that in perspective, Titan 's main compartment has as much space as a “minivan without chairs,” Pogue told PEOPLE. 

“The sub is made from a carbon fiber cylinder, so the walls are curved,” he added. “So you sit there on the floor with your back against the curved wall.” 

It weighs 23,000 lbs and can carry up to 1,510 lbs. It is designed to go as deep as 4,000 meters (13,123 feet) in the ocean. For reference, the Titanic wreckage sits at 3,800 meters in the ocean. During his CBS Sunday Morning segment in 2022, Pogue noted that it is the only five-person sub that can reach Titanic depths. 

How many people does the Titan submersible hold?

The Titan is built to hold five passengers, including one pilot and four crew members, seated . Though authorities have not officially released the names of those on the Titan , PEOPLE has confirmed their identities.

They include British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood; British billionaire Hamish Harding; Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Stockton Rush, the latter of which was piloting the voyage . 

How much life support does the Titan submersible have?

The sub also holds 96 hours of oxygen reserves for five crew members, however, BBC notes that it “will be affected by the breathing rate of the crew.”  

Pogue also reported that the oxygen supply has never been tested. "Nobody's ever measured it," he told CBS News . 

How is the Titan submersible operated?

CBS Sunday Morning

Since radio waves are not as reliable in the ocean, submersibles like the Titan “use underwater sounds to transmit data packets across the ocean,” ABC News reports .

“The receiving party aboard a support ship [the Polar Prince] can then use a hydrophone to receive the data transmitted acoustically, which can then be converted into understandable information like text or audio,” the outlet adds. 

With those special instructions, the pilot steers the vessel on a modified video game controller, which Rush previewed in his segment with CBS Sunday Morning in 2022. 

Pogue told PEOPLE the Titan has “only a single button, an on/off button,” but “beyond that, the pilot drives the sub using a PlayStation video game controller.”

He added that there’s also a touchscreen computer that the pilot uses for the lights, air and the measurements of depth as well as communicating with the surface. 

What safety measures does the Titan submersible have in place? 

Ocean Gate/Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty

In order to deal with the intense pressure of diving deep into the ocean, the Titan has Real Time Hull Health Monitoring (RTM) systems, which OceanGate says analyzes “the effects of changing pressure on the vessel as the submersible dives deeper [to] accurately assess the integrity of the structure.” 

The website adds that the “onboard health analysis monitoring system provides early warning detection for the pilot with enough time to arrest the descent and safely return to surface.” 

Unlike other submersibles though, which usually feature an internally accessible hatch and allow passengers to open the door from inside, the Titan ’s hatch is out the outside of the vessel. 

As noted during the CBS Sunday Morning segment in 2022, before every dive, a crew closes the hatch of the sub from the outside with 17 bolts, with Pogue adding, “There is no other way out.” 

Speaking with PEOPLE, Pogue noted that when it comes to a disaster one of the only things you can do in the vessel “is rise to the surface as quickly as possible.” He called that in 2022, Rush showed him seven different ways to do that, including releasing sandbags, releasing “heavy construction pipes,” “inflating an air bladder” and releasing “the legs of the sub” to lose weight. 

“Some of these methods do not require electricity, and some of them do not require the hydraulic system,” he added. “One of these methods even works if everybody on board has passed out. It's a time-release system where these sandbags beneath the sub are connected by dissolving hooks. So if enough time in seawater goes by, they release the sandbags and the sub rises to the surface on its own.” 

How many times has the Titan submersible been to the Titanic wreckage? 

https://oceangate.com/gallery/gallery-titanic-2021.html

Per NBC News , OceanGate Expeditions began offering trips to the Titanic wreckage in 2021 and had only made two previous trips before the June 18 dive. 

Related Articles

Missing Titanic tourist sub: Everything we know so far, from who's on board to when it disappeared

• The Titan submersible went missing during an expedition to the RMS Titanic shipwreck Sunday.
• Five passengers were on board the vessel when it went missing in the Atlantic Ocean.
• The Coast Guard announced Thursday that the vessel likely imploded after a ROV found a debris field.

A submersible carrying tourists to the wreck of the RMS Titanic went missing shortly after it began its journey to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday.

On Thursday, the Coast Guard announced that the vessel likely imploded and that an underwater robot found pieces of debris consistent with the sub on the ocean floor. 

The submersible was part of an eight-day expedition operated by OceanGate Expeditions, which organizes trips to the remains of the Titanic — two main pieces that sit about 2 ½ miles down into the ocean and about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Insider previously reported . Tourists pay $250,000 for the trip.

Customers who board the small submersible experience the "massive scale of the wreck," OceanGate's website says.

According to OceanGate, there were successful missions to the wreck in 2021 and 2022, before the sub lost communication with its mothership Sunday.

When did the Titan sub go missing?

OceanGate's Titan submersible left for its mission to the Titanic wreck on Sunday morning. The vessel was carrying five passengers — one pilot and four tourists.

But it lost communications with its mothership, the Canadian research ship the Polar Prince, less than two hours into the journey, the US Coast Guard said Monday afternoon.

The Coast Guard said it began searching for the 21-foot sub Monday afternoon.

Coast Guard officials said the oxygen on board the submersible was expected to run out between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. on Thursday, if the submersible hadn't imploded before that.

Fresh hope was raised for finding the crew alive when the US Coast Guard said early Wednesday that a Canadian P-3 aircraft helping the search had detected "underwater noises," with remotely operated vehicles sent to investigate.

It came after Rolling Stone reported that a Canadian aircraft detected "banging" in 30-minute intervals from the area where the submersible went missing.

Officials said they heard more banging on Wednesday, though officials and experts said it isn't clear what the noises were, and the source of the noises was never verified. 

The US Coast Guard, which worked with the US Navy, the Canadian Coast Guard, and the Canadian military to search for the vessel, announced on Thursday afternoon that a debris field found by a remote-operated vehicle was from the missing Titan sub and that it was "consistent with the  catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber ."

The agency indicated that the vessel likely imploded at some point before the search and rescue efforts began .

OceanGate released a further statement saying it believes five passengers onboard the Titan are presumed dead .

Later on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal first reported that the US Navy heard what it believed was an implosion days before, just hours after the Titan began its mission. 

A top-secret military acoustic detection system that the Navy employs to spot enemy submarines picked up the sound of the implosion shortly after the sub lost communications with its mother ship, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Navy had started listening for the missing sub almost as soon as it went missing. 

When was the missing Titanic sub found?

Debris from the submersible was found on Thursday, 1,600 feet away from the famous Titanic shipwreck its five passengers hoped to explore, the Coast Guard said.

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Officials said they notified passengers' families after an ROV found the tail comb of the Titan approximately 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic. Additional debris that is consistent with a loss of cabin pressure that would have triggered the vessel to implode was also discovered by the ROV. 

US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said investigators discovered five major pieces of debris confirmed to be the remains of the Titan, including a nose comb outside of the pressure hull, the front of the pressure hull,  and the totality of the pressure vessel.

The Coast Guard added that ROVs will stay on the scene to continue to investigate what happened and to gather more information about the tragic event. 

Who was on the missing Titanic sub?

The Titan could fit five people and was at capacity when it set out on its mission. 

The BBC and Reuters identified the five passengers on board as Hamish Harding, Paul Henry Nargeolet, Shahzada Dawood, Suleman Dawood, and Stockton Rush, the founder and CEO of OceanGate.

According to OceanGate, Rush performed a 4,000-meter validation dive on the Titan in December 2018. 

Harding, a 58-year-old British billionaire, had a taste for adventure and once went on a Blue Origin flight to space. He's a known explorer who holds at least four Guinness World Records honors for achievements including the longest time  spent navigating the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean, and the  fastest flight going all the way around the globe, crossing both poles, Insider previously reported . He's also been to the South Pole twice. 

Harding announced his trip on the Titan in a Sunday Instagram post before the sub started its expedition.   

Nargeolet, a 77-year-old former French navy captain and veteran deep-sea diver known as "Mr. Titanic," was no stranger to the wreck of the RMS Titanic. Before Sunday's trip, Nargeolet had been there at least 35 times. 

He was also one of the passengers on the first human expedition to the wreckage in 1987, just two years after it was discovered, The Telegraph reported .

Mathieu Johann, Nargeolet's spokesperson, told the BBC that he hoped the people on board the missing submersible were reassured by Nargeolet's poise and military background as search-and-rescue teams worked to locate the vessel, Insider previously reported .

Shahzada Dawood, a 48-year-old British-Pakistani businessman, was also aboard the Titan with his son, Suleman Dawood, 19.

In a statement shared with the BBC , their family said Shahzada Dawood was interested in "exploring different natural habitats." He served as the vice chair of Pakistan's Engro Corp. and lived in London with his son, wife, and other child, Alina. 

Suleman Dawood was "a big fan of science fiction literature and learning new things" and was a university student, his family said.

Where did the Titanic sink?

According to OceanGate, the wreck of the Titanic is approximately 380 nautical miles south of Newfoundland, or about 437 miles.

The wreck is in two main pieces 3,800 meters, or 12,800 feet, deep in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Titan is the only sub in OceanGate's fleet that can go as deep as the Titanic wreck. It is unclear how deep the sub was or how close it was to the Titanic wreck when it went missing Sunday.

The deepest sub rescue in history was of a small submersible called the Pisces III, which was carrying the former Navy pilots Roger Mallinson and Roger Chapman in September 1973, according to the BBC .

A hatch broke off a rear compartment, plunging the sub to a depth of 1,575 feet. It took two days for the vessel to be brought to the surface, leaving the men with only 12 minutes of oxygen left at the time of their rescue. 

The Titanic wreck is much deeper than the deepest point the Pisces III reached.

Watch: Sub taking tourists to see the Titanic goes missing

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Missing Titanic submersible: what is the Titan tourist sub and what might have happened to it?

The five-person craft has 96 hours of oxygen on board and can dive to depths of 4km to explore wreckage of the Titanic

• Missing Titanic sub – latest updates

Search and rescue teams are racing to find a tourist submersible that went missing with five people on board during a dive to explore the wreck of the Titanic.

Contact with the Titan submersible was lost 1 hour 45 minutes into its dive on Sunday afternoon, according to the US Coast Guard. Here’s what we know about the vessel and what might have happened.

What is the Titan sub and what can it do?

The Titan is a research and survey submersible that can carry five people, usually a pilot and four “mission specialists” who can include archaeologists, marine biologists or anyone who can afford the experience as a tourist.

Made of “titanium and filament wound carbon fibre”, the 6.7-metre (22ft) craft weighs 10,432kg (23,000lbs), equivalent to about six average-size cars, and is capable of diving to depths of 4,000 metres (13,120ft) “with a comfortable safety margin”, according to operator OceanGate. It uses four electric thrusters to move around, and has a battery of cameras, lights and scanners to explore its environment. OceanGate says Titan’s viewport is “the largest of any deep diving submersible” and that its technology provides an “unrivalled view” of the deep ocean.

It has a 96-hour bottled oxygen supply, as of roughly 6am Sunday local time, according to David Concannon, an adviser to trip operator OceanGate, which would in theory last until Thursday morning . However, that limit would be affected by the breathing rate of those inside the craft, especially if there are tourists onboard with limited diving experience.

What might have gone wrong?

It is too early to say what has happened but experts have offered several of the most likely scenarios, from becoming tangled in wreckage of the Titanic, to a power failure or an issue with the sub’s communications system.

The wreckage of the Titanic, which lies about 3,800 metres (12,500ft) down on the ocean floor is surrounded by debris from the disaster more than a century ago. “There are parts of it all over the place. It’s dangerous,” said Frank Owen OAM, a retired Royal Australian Navy official and submarine escape and rescue project director.

Contact was lost 1 hour 45 minutes into the Titan’s trip, suggesting the crew may have been close to, or at, the bottom, says Owen. The Titan has a maximum speed of three knots, but would be slower the deeper it goes.

In the case of becoming tangled, or a power or communications failure, the Titan would be equipped with drop weights, which can be released in an emergency, creating enough buoyancy to take it to the surface. The Titan has an array of signals, lighting, reflectors and other equipment it can use once on the surface to attract attention.

Another scenario is that there has been a leak in the pressure hull, in which case the prognosis is not good, said Alistair Greig, a professor of marine engineering at University College London.

“If it has gone down to the seabed and can’t get back up under its own power, options are very limited,” Greig said. “While the submersible might still be intact, if it is beyond the continental shelf, there are very few vessels that can get that deep, and certainly not divers.”

Chris Parry, a retired rear admiral with the British Royal Navy, told Sky News a seabed rescue was “a very difficult operation”.

“The actual nature of the seabed is very undulating. Titanic herself lies in a trench. There’s lots of debris around. So trying to differentiate with sonar in particular and trying to target the area you want to search in with another submersible is going to be very difficult indeed.”

What can be done to find it?

US and Canadian aircraft are searching the area, as well as large ships, but the hunt was “complex” because crews do not know if the vessel has surfaced, meaning they must scour both the surface and the ocean depths, said Rear Admiral John Mauger, first district commander of the US Coast Guard, overseeing the search-and-rescue operation.

Concannon said officials were working to get a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that can reach a depth of 6,000 metres (about 20,000ft) to the site as soon as possible.

These ROVs are dropped over the side of a vessel, to which it is connected by a “umbilical cord” that enables a pilot to operate its thrusters and also relay data in real-time from its sonar and camera systems.

However, the amount of wreckage of the Titanic on the ocean floor means it could take time to discern what is debris and what is the Titan. The search teams do at least have a starting point; the vessel’s position would have been tracked until the moment contact was lost.

The company’s managing director, Mark Butler, told the AP: “There is still plenty of time to facilitate a rescue mission, there is equipment on board for survival in this event,” Butler said. “We’re all hoping and praying he comes back safe and sound.”

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9 questions about the missing Titanic submersible, answered

The crew of the missing sub is dead, following a “catastrophic implosion,” the US Coast Guard said Thursday.

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Editor’s note, June 22, 4:40 pm ET: The Titan submersible suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” the US Coast Guard announced on Thursday afternoon. OceanGate, the company that operates the Titan submersible, said that the crew of the sub is dead. The company said in a statement, “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.”

The story that follows was originally published on June 21 and has been updated throughout.

The US Coast Guard delivered some difficult news at a Thursday afternoon press conference: Pieces of the submersible vessel that had been lost for nearly five days had been found about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic. The sub had suffered a “catastrophic implosion.” All five crew members are believed to be dead.

The craft, called the Titan, went missing in the North Atlantic Ocean on Sunday morning less than two hours after being deployed by a former Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker called the Polar Prince. On board were five passengers, including a French maritime expert, a billionaire British explorer, a British Pakistani tycoon and his teenage son, as well as Stockton Rush, the founder and CEO of OceanGate, the company leading the expedition to the Titanic. A massive search and rescue effort swiftly ramped up as the submersible only had approximately 96 hours of oxygen reserves on board.

For the first couple of days, the international team of rescuers offered few updates on the progress of the search, which eventually spanned an area twice the size of Connecticut, or more than 10,000 square miles. There were reports of banging noises in the search area on Wednesday, and the Coast Guard announced midday Thursday that a debris field had been discovered near the Titanic shipwreck. The Coast Guard confirmed a few hours later that the field of debris was “consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber.” The Titan had imploded, although the exact timing of the event was not yet known.

The story of the lost submersible touched on more than just the search and rescue effort. Following news of the missing submersible has become a global media obsession as it touched on everything from the difficulties of underwater exploration to the rise of risky chartered expeditions for the ultrarich. (A trip on the Titan submersible cost $250,000 per passenger.) It also raised questions about the attention we pay to a wealthy person’s hobby gone wrong versus to the near-daily reality of maritime disasters affecting the less fortunate.

Here are nine questions about the Titan, the effort to find it, and its tragic conclusion. This is a developing story, and we’ll be updating this post as new information becomes available.

1. When and where did the Titanic submersible disappear?

After departing from St. John’s on the eastern edge of Newfoundland on June 16, the Polar Prince dropped anchor roughly 900 miles east of Cape Cod and was scheduled to deploy the Titan at 3 am ET the morning of June 18, although the Coast Guard said it didn’t begin its descent until around 7 am ET. The sub was supposed to send out a ping every 15 minutes during its descent down to the Titanic shipwreck, nearly 13,000 feet below the ocean’s surface. The entire voyage was supposed to take just two and a half hours, but the Polar Prince lost contact with the Titan approximately an hour and 45 minutes into the trip, triggering a desperate search for the missing sub. —Adam Clark Estes

2. Who was on board?

There were five people aboard the Titan submersible, including Stockton Rush, the 61-year-old pilot. He’s the founder and CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, which organized the expedition that the submersible embarked on to see the wreckage of the Titanic. Rush was an aerospace engineer with a well-documented love of deep-sea exploration and designing experimental aircraft and modded submersibles (there’s been a lot of talk of how the Titan was maneuvered by a modified video game controller ). Though OceanGate was founded in 2009, tours to the Titanic weren’t available to paying customers until 2021. As of April 2020, the company had raised almost $37 million in total funding, according to data from PitchBook, including a new $18 million investment that year to help fund the nascent Titanic expeditions.

Also on board was Hamish Harding, a 58-year-old British billionaire with a penchant for adventuring to the extremes of the Earth. In 2016, he visited the South Pole with astronaut Buzz Aldrin; he holds three Guinness world records , including one for a more than four-hour dive in the deepest part of the Mariana Trench. Last summer, he joined the six-person crew of a suborbital flight with Blue Origin , the space exploration company started by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos . He also flew planes and was a skydiver; in 2022, he was inducted into the Living Legends of Aviation , an award recognizing people who have made significant contributions to aviation — other honorees include space billionaires Elon Musk , Bezos, Richard Branson, and actors Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford.

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Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a 77-year-old former commander of the French Navy, was a deep-sea search expert who completed at least 35 dives to the wreck of the Titanic . An authority on the famous shipwreck, Nargeolet was also the director of underwater research at RMS Titanic Inc., which has exclusive rights to salvage artifacts from the wreck. Nargeolet was part of the Air France Flight 447 search efforts, helping to find the plane that had disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean.

Shahzada Dawood, a 48-year-old Pakistani British businessman and philanthropist, had joined the Titan crew with his 19-year-old son Suleman. He was the head of the Engro Corporation, one of the largest conglomerates in Pakistan, which operates in the food and agriculture, energy, and telecommunications sectors. He sat on the board of trustees of his family foundation , which focuses on education in the sciences and technology. Dawood was also on the board of the SETI Institute, a renowned scientific research organization that, in part, searches for extraterrestrial life .

The five passengers aboard the submersible were connected by an interest — and some experience and bona fides — in exploring air, space, and sea, as well as the financial means to pursue these passions. Again, OceanGate’s Titanic expeditions to the wreckage site cost as much as $250,000 per passenger. The company has claimed that its aim is to increase access to the deep sea for tourists and to contribute research on the wreck and its surrounding debris. —Whizy Kim

3. How exactly did the sub work?

The Titan was not a big submersible, nor was it designed for extended periods underwater, or capable of traveling to a port without help from another vessel, as naval submarines are . The teardrop-shaped vessel was 22 feet long, could carry five people, and was equipped with one small porthole window on the front of the vessel, where there was also a small toilet. The cylindrical, all-metal interior otherwise lacked seats and was approximately the size of a minivan , according to David Pogue, a CBS reporter and former passenger. Mike Reiss, a producer and writer for The Simpsons , traveled on the Titan in 2022 and said passengers were given sandwiches and water on board his voyage, which lasted 10 hours, during which the vessel’s compass was “acting very weird” and the passengers only had about 20 minutes to view the Titanic wreckage.

Because it traveled so deep in the ocean, the Titan could not use GPS and communicated with the Polar Prince through a text messaging system. It was piloted with a video game controller, which is not as weird as it sounds . Even the US Navy uses Xbox controllers to operate the photonic scopes that replaced periscopes on submarines.

Critically, the Titan submersible only had 96 hours of oxygen reserves on board. That means that as soon as the vessel went missing, the clock started ticking on remaining life support. It’s not clear if the sub imploded before the oxygen supply ran out. But even if the sub had been able to resurface on its own, the passengers would have been stuck inside until help arrived, since the hatch was closed from the outside and sealed shut with 17 bolts. —ACE

4. Who owns and operates the Titan sub?

The Titan was operated by OceanGate Expeditions, a Washington-based private company that offers chartered deep-sea exploration for commercial and scientific purposes. The company has also become known for leading deep-sea tourism trips. Its first trips to the Titanic were in 2021 and 2022, and OceanGate has said it would return to the shipwreck annually to survey its decay.

OceanGate has led more than a dozen underwater trips , including to shipwrecks like the Andrea Doria, which lies up to 240 feet underwater near Nantucket. In addition to the Titan , it operates two other five-person submersibles in its fleet: Antipodes and Cyclops 1 . While Antipodes and Cyclops 1 can travel just 1,000 and 1,640 feet below the surface, respectively, OceanGate says the Titan was designed to go 4,000 meters, or 13,123 feet deep — just enough to reach the Titanic wreckage, which lies about 12,500 feet down. That seems uncomfortably close to the vessel’s maximum depth.

OceanGate has for years faced criticism from experts about Titan’s safety. David Lochridge, who was an OceanGate employee from 2016 to 2018, warned about the thickness of the Titan’s hull and “the potential dangers to passengers of the Titan as the submersible reached extreme depths” in a 2018 report . Lochridge later said in a court filing that he was wrongly terminated after raising these concerns. More than three dozen experts subsequently sent a letter to OceanGate’s CEO Rush saying that the “‘experimental’ approach adopted by [the company] could result in negative outcomes (from minor to catastrophic).” OceanGate offered a response of sorts in a 2019 blog post that explained why the company had decided not to class the Titan — that is, get an independent group to evaluate whether a series of standards, including on safety, have been met , which is the industry norm. OceanGate argued that “innovation often falls outside of the existing industry paradigm” and that “by itself, classing is not sufficient to ensure safety.”

Rush seemed quite cavalier in his own right. “I mean, if you just want to be safe, don’t get out of bed, don’t get in your car, don’t do anything,” Rush told CBS’s Pogue in 2022. “At some point, you’re going to take some risk, and it really is a risk-reward question.” He added that safety is a “pure waste.” —ACE

5. What do we know about the search and rescue process?

OceanGate contacted the Coast Guard after it lost touch with the Titan on Sunday afternoon. This kicked off what has become an international rescue effort on the water and in the air. The search yielded few updates until early Wednesday, when several maritime surveillance planes detected underwater noises , described as “banging noises,” in the area where the Titan went missing. The US Coast Guard said during a Thursday press conference that there didn’t appear to be any connection between the noises and the location of the Titan’s debris.

The search and rescue effort initially included two American C-130 aircraft and two Canadian P-3 aircraft that can deploy sonar probes into the water as well as a British C-17 to transport equipment. On the surface, the Polar Prince and Deep Energy, a Bahamas-flagged pipe-laying ship with two remotely operated vehicles that can dive nearly 10,000 feet, assisted with the search. The Atalante, a French research vessel, arrived on Wednesday before deploying an underwater exploration robot, called the Victor 6000. A Canadian ship, the Horizon Arctic, also arrived and deployed a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, that reached the ocean floor on Thursday morning. A third ROV capable of reaching the ocean floor, owned by the seabed-mapping company Magellan, is expected to arrive on Thursday.

These ROVs were ultimately critical in discovering what remained of the Titan submersible. Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger said that one of the ROVs spotted debris about 1,600 feet from the Titanic’s bow on Thursday morning. After it was determined that the debris was the nose cone of the Titan, the Coast Guard contacted the families of the lost crew members. The ROV ended up finding five total pieces of debris in two debris fields on Thursday, according to Paul Hankins, director of salvage operations and ocean engineering for the US Navy, who said this was “the totality of the vessel.” When asked about the likelihood of recovering the remains of the crew, Rear Adm. Mauger said, “This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there.” —ACE

6. Why is it so difficult to explore the deepest parts of the ocean?

You’re probably familiar with how 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is ocean, but its depths are a much bigger mystery. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, less than 10 percent of the world’s ocean depths are mapped with sonar.

Think of the ocean floor not as flat and even, but with geological features just like land on the surface. There are canyons, plateaus, mountains, and submarine volcanoes, among other types of formations . Crucially, the technology we have to map above ground doesn’t work as well underwater. Water is a very good shield. It’s excellent at attenuating light, radiation, electromagnetism — all of our conventional tools for studying stuff. Terrain mapping can include satellite imagery and GPS , both of which can’t operate beyond rather shallow depths. So beyond 50 meters of depth, you really can’t know what’s going on unless you’re physically there.

To identify objects in the very deep parts of the ocean, researchers are left to use sound waves , which can travel through water much more accurately, via sonar. We can use echo sounding to map the ocean floor in a practice called bathymetry . There’s also geodesy , a satellite technology that’s increasingly being used to map by measuring tiny changes in gravity, which in turn illustrate the bottom of the ocean.

A part of the struggle comes through relying on sound waves, which physically have to be deployed. It’s expensive to make vessels that can withstand the pressures of the depths, and even more expensive to get people in said vessels. The farther down you go, the higher and more deadly the pressure is . In 2016, scientists estimated it would cost more than $3 billion to map the ocean floor. OceanGate claims to provide submersibles for scientific projects as well .

“In some ways, it’s a lot easier to send people into space than it is to send people to the bottom of the ocean,” oceanographer Gene Carl Feldman told Oceana , an ocean conservation group. “The intense pressures in the deep ocean make it an extremely difficult environment to explore.”

So while we know where the oceans are, and their surface is mapped with satellites, the depths are still just roughly estimated . We have a better understanding of Mars’s geography than we do of the ocean’s.

As for the rescue, the OceanGate submersible only had sonar to rely on — and that’s if their technology was working. (The New York Times reported that it’s unclear whether the Titan even had an acoustic homing beacon.) According to Rear Adm. Mauger, the implosion of the Titan “would have generated significant broadband sound down there that the sonar buoys would have picked up.” Listening devices that were dropped in the general area Monday allegedly did not catch any implosion sounds , the US Coast Guard said. However, the Wall Street Journal reported late Thursday evening that the US Navy had heard what could have been an implosion sound in the hours soon after the Titan went out of contact. — Izzie Ramirez

7. How dangerous is deep sea tourism?

In most cases, folks who aren’t experts in deep-sea exploration aren’t ending up down near the sea floor. And if they are, usually they’re accompanied or trained by people who know how to operate deep-sea machinery and what to do in emergency situations. That’s what made this particular incident with OceanGate precarious — generally, deep-sea equipment has several redundant failsafes to protect the people inside.

Because deep-sea exploration trips are so expensive, there are limited ways to get on one. You can be conducting government-funded research, have extremely wealthy benefactors (or be wealthy yourself), or be contracted as an employee of an industry that’s operating in the depths. In the research arena, that’s improved loads. Just earlier this month, a Florida scientist — nicknamed “Dr. Deep Sea” — broke the world record for living underwater the longest. He stayed in a subaquatic compound for 100 days.

But it hasn’t always been so safe. And safety, of course, is dependent on the infrastructure and systems around an individual. In 1983, a team of saturation divers for Byford Dolphin, a semi-submersible oil rig in the North Sea, experienced a terrible accident . The diving bell , or the structure that maintains pressure to keep divers safe, released before a connecting chamber’s doors were entirely closed, instantaneously decompressing the area. Three of the divers died instantly, with the nitrogen in their bodies erupting, “boiling” into gas. Another was sucked through an opening — his internal organs scattered onto the deck after being torn from his body.

The danger of pressure underwater will likely never go away, but we’ve gotten better at building vessels and ships that have backup plans for their backup plans. That, and we don’t send as many crewed vessels into the deep. — IR

8. How does deep-sea tourism compare to space tourism?

Rush, in an interview with the New York Times last year, argued that OceanGate’s private explorations served a public good. “No public entity is going to fund going back to the Titanic,” he said. It’s an argument not dissimilar to the one spacefaring billionaires make about the societal value their multibillion-dollar ventures provide. They, too, point to a diminishment of interest and funding for space exploration — so thank the heavens they’re magnanimously picking up the slack. In a 2017 interview with Fast Company, Rush noted that as a teenager he dreamed of being the first person on Mars, only later turning his eye to the ocean.

He also said that the cost of OceanGate’s expeditions were a “fraction” of going to space. That’s true more broadly — setting up an aerospace company and building reusable rockets probably requires a lot more capital than sending submersibles into the depths of the ocean. But a ticket on a Virgin Galactic spaceflight also cost around $250,000 in 2021, though it has since upped the price to a cool $450,000 . This February, Rush was sued for fraud by a Florida couple alleging that the Titanic voyage they paid a hefty sum for had never happened.

In recent years, space exploration — often with dreams of colonizing Mars — has become the billionaire pet project du jour. But there have been plenty of other trendy, expensive fascinations, too. In fact, the elite fascination with the deep sea appeared to be having a moment in the early 2010s . Richard Branson spent an estimated $17 million on a submarine in 2011, and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen also revealed in 2011 that he had a megayacht big enough to house a personal submarine. Ex- Google CEO Eric Schmidt founded the Schmidt Ocean Institute in 2009, which aims to advance oceanographic research. To date, Schmidt and his wife Wendy have contributed over $360 million to the institute.

While the degree of danger associated with the hobbies of the ultrarich varies greatly, there’s a surfeit of adventurous pastimes enjoyed by the wealthy, whether it’s yacht racing — done by the likes of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Wendy Schmidt — or flying private planes, an infamously perilous activity that nonetheless remains a favorite hobby of rich people . —WK

9. Why does the media care so much about this story?

The quick answer to that question is that it’s pretty hard to imagine people spending $250,000 to voluntarily go to an extremely dangerous place in a claustrophobic tube with no additional safety. Rich people doing something astonishingly baffling and risky is always a point of curiosity. It’s a story, in the classic sense of the word.

The more complex — and arguably interesting — answer is that such a search endeavor reveals how little we know about the ocean. The hurdles with sonar, the physical challenges, the fact there’s so much science and guessing involved (When did they die? What caused the implosion?) can lead to a lot of important development in the future. This might be the impetus for governments to invest more in ocean exploration.

And, yes, migrants unfortunately do go missing in oceans regularly in arduous, treacherous journeys for a better life. At least 78 migrants died and hundreds of others are missing after a boat capsized in the Mediterranean earlier this week, for instance. Outlets could do more to cover this painful issue with justice and accountability. As local and national outlets continue to cover immigration, human rights, and poverty, it’s a dual responsibility from news organizations and readers alike to decide what really matters. —IR

Update, June 22, 7:30 pm ET: This story was originally published on June 21 and has been updated multiple times, most recently to include the discovery of the remains of the Titan submersible, the deaths of the crew members, and the possibility that the implosion was detected by the US Navy.

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The latest on the Titan submersible tragedy and what’s next in the investigation

The Titan submersible was touted for its unconventional design. After its catastrophic underwater implosion that killed five people, the question remains, was the design destined for disaster? (June 23) (AP Video/Production: Rodrique Ngowi)

FILE - This undated image provided by OceanGate Expeditions in June 2021 shows the company’s Titan submersible. Rescuers are racing against time to find the missing submersible carrying five people, who were reported overdue Sunday night. (OceanGate Expeditions via AP, File)

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U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger, commander of the First Coast Guard District, talks to the media, Thursday, June 22, 2023, at Coast Guard Base Boston, in Boston. The missing submersible Titan imploded near the wreckage of the Titanic, killing all five people on board, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

In this satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies, from top to bottom, the vessels Horizon Arctic, Deep Energy and Skandi Vinland search for the missing submersible Titan, Thursday, June 22, 2023 in the Atlantic Ocean. (Satellite image ©2023 Maxar Technologies via AP)

FILE - This 2004 photo provided by the Institute for Exploration, Center for Archaeological Oceanography/University of Rhode Island/NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration, shows the remains of a coat and boots in the mud on the sea bed near the Titanic’s stern. Rescuers are racing against time to find the missing submersible carrying five people, who were reported overdue Sunday night, June 18, 2023. (Institute for Exploration, Center for Archaeological Oceanography/University of Rhode Island/NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration, File)

CORRECTS SPELLING OF THE NAME TO HENRI, INSTEAD OF HENRY This photo combo shows from left, Shahzada Dawood, Suleman Dawood, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Stockton Rush, and Hamish Harding are facing critical danger aboard a small submersible that went missing in the Atlantic Ocean. The missing submersible Titan imploded near the wreckage of the Titanic, killing all five people on board, the U.S. Coast Guard announced Thursday, June 22, 2023. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - In this image released by Action Aviation, company chairman and billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding looks out to sea before boarding the submersible Titan for a dive into the Atlantic Ocean on an expedition to the Titanic on Sunday, June 18, 2023. The missing submersible Titan imploded near the wreckage of the Titanic, killing all five people, Shahzada Dawood, Suleman Dawood, Paul-Henry Nargeolet, Stockton Rush, and Hamish Harding, the U.S. Coast Guard announced, Thursday, June 22, 2023. (Action Aviation via AP)

This undated photo provided by SETI Institute shows Shahzada Dawood, SETI Institute Trustee. Father-and-son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood are facing critical danger aboard a small submersible that went missing in the Atlantic Ocean. The race is on to find the Titan, which has an oxygen supply that is expected to run out early Thursday, June 22, 2023. The people on board include British businessman and world-record holding adventurer Hamish Harding; Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet, and OceanGate CEO and founder Stockton Rush. (SETI Institute via AP)

FILE - Director James Cameron walks in Purmamarca, Jujuy province, Argentina, on June 8, 2023. Cameron says the search operation for a deep-sea tourist sub turned into a “nightmarish charade” that prolonged the agony of the families of the passengers. Cameron told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Friday June 23, 2023 that he “felt in my bones” that the Titan submersible had been lost soon after he heard it had lost contact with the surface during its descent to the wreckage of the ocean liner at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. (AP Photo/Javier Corbalan, File)

The around-the-clock search for the missing Titan submersible engrossed the world for days, but after news of the catastrophic implosion that killed the pilot and his four passengers near the Titanic shipwreck, investigators are focusing on how it happened — and if it could have been prevented.

Deep-sea robots will continue searching the North Atlantic sea floor for clues. Investigators in Canada are looking at the Titan’s Canadian-flagged support ship. U.S. authorities are looking into other aspects of the tragedy.

The Titan , owned by undersea exploration company OceanGate Expeditions, had been chronicling the Titanic’s decay and the underwater ecosystem around the sunken ocean liner in yearly voyages since 2021.

Authorities and experts are seeking answers: Exactly when and why did the implosion occur? Will the victims’ bodies ever be found? What lessons are there for the future of undersea exploration?

Here’s what we know so far:

WHEN AND WHERE DID THE TITAN GO MISSING?

The craft submerged Sunday morning, and its support vessel lost contact with it about an hour and 45 minutes later, according to the Coast Guard.

The vessel was reported overdue about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland, according to Canada’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The Titan was launched from an icebreaker that was hired by OceanGate and formerly operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. The ship has ferried dozens of people and the submersible craft to the North Atlantic wreck site, where the Titan has made multiple dives.

WHAT HAPPENED ABOARD THE TITAN?

The vessel suffered a catastrophic implosion, killing all five aboard, sometime after it submerged Sunday morning. It’s not clear exactly when or where the implosion occurred, but a U.S. Navy acoustics system detected an “anomaly” Sunday that was likely the Titan’s fatal implosion.

The Coast Guard announced that debris from the submersible had been found and the end of rescue efforts Thursday, bringing a tragic close to a saga that included an urgent around-the-clock search and a worldwide vigil for the missing vessel.

A deep-sea robot discovered the debris, near the Titanic shipwreck, that authorities say came from the submersible.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OCCUPANTS WHEN THE TITAN IMPLODED?

Experts say the catastrophic implosion likely killed its pilot and four passengers instantly amid the intense water pressure in the deep North Atlantic .

Maritime researchers called an implosion the worst possible outcome of all the scenarios envisioned during the desperate round-the-clock search to find the missing vessel.

Experts had cautioned that under intense pressure at extreme depths the Titan’s hull could implode, which would result in instant death for anyone aboard.

While OceanGate Expeditions, which owned and operated the craft, touted the Titan’s roomier cylinder-shaped cabin made of a carbon-fiber , industry experts say it was a departure from the sphere-shaped cabins — considered ideal because water pressure is exerted equally on all areas — made of titanium used by most submersibles.

The 22-foot long (6.7-meter long), 23,000-pound (10,432-kilogram) Titan’s larger internal volume — while still cramped with a maximum of five seated people — meant it was subjected to more external pressure.

The water pressure at 12,500 feet (3,800 meters) below the surface at the site of the Titanic wreck is roughly 400 atmospheres or 6,000 pounds per square inch.

WHO WAS KILLED?

The Titan victims are : Oceangate chief executive and Titan pilot Stockton Rush; two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood; British adventurer Hamish Harding; and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

Worldwide condolences have poured in, offering tributes to the men and support for their families.

“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” OceanGate said in a statement. “We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.”

WHO REGULATES DEEP-SEA EXPEDITIONS?

The Titan’s voyage down into the North Atlantic highlights the murkily regulated waters of deep-sea exploration . It’s a space on the high seas where laws and conventions can be sidestepped by risk-taking entrepreneurs and the wealthy tourists who help fund their dreams. At least for now.

The Titan operated in international waters, far from the reach of many laws of the United States or other nations. It wasn’t registered as a U.S. vessel or with international agencies that regulate safety, nor was it classified by a maritime industry group that sets standards on matters such as hull construction.

Stockton Rush , the OceanGate Expeditions CEO and Titan pilot who was among the dead, had said he didn’t want to be bogged down by such standards.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Coast Guard will continue searching near the Titanic for more clues about what happened to the Titan.

Officials say there is not a timeframe for when they will call off the effort, and the prospect of finding or recovering remains is unknown.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Friday it’s launching an investigation involving the loss of the Titan that will focus on the cargo vessel Polar Prince.

Polar Prince is a Canadian-flagged ship that served as mothership to the Titan submersible. The Transportation Safety Board will investigate the Polar Prince in its role as a support vessel and will conduct a safety investigation into the circumstances of the operation, the agency said.

Experts say wrongful death and negligence lawsuits are also likely next in the Titan case — and they could be successful. But legal actions will face various challenges, including waivers likely signed by the Titan passengers that warned of the myriad ways they could die.

HOW MUCH DID THE SEARCH COST?

The cost of the search will easily stretch into the millions of dollars for the U.S. Coast Guard alone. The Canadian Coast Guard, U.S. Navy and other agencies and private entities also rushed to provide resources and expertise.

There’s no other comparable ocean search, especially with so many countries and even commercial enterprises being involved, said Norman Polmar, a naval historian, analyst and author based in Virginia.

The aircraft, alone, are expensive to operate.

The Pentagon has put the hourly cost at tens of thousands of dollars for turboprop P-3 Orion and jet-powered P-8 Poseidon sub hunters, along with C-130 Hercules, all utilized in the search.

Some agencies can seek reimbursements. But the U.S. Coast Guard is generally prohibited by federal law from collecting reimbursement pertaining to any search or rescue service, said Stephen Koerting, a U.S. attorney in Maine who specializes in maritime law.

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OceanGate’s Titan sub actually completed less than 15% of deep dive to Titanic shipwreck – report

Passengers made to sign four-page liability waiver for ‘experimental’ titan submersible, article bookmarked.

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OceanGate's Titan submersible completed fewer than 15 per cent of its attempted deep dives to reach the Titanic wreckage located 12,500 feet below the ocean's surface, according to a report.

Five people, including British billionaire Hamish Harding , died after the submersible imploded during the underwater expedition on 18 June.

The others on board were OceanGate chief executive Stockton Rush , French diving expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman.

The submersible previously reached the depth of the wreckage on "as few as 13" of the 90 trips undertaken by the company, according to a passenger's waiver seen by Insider .

The company had a success rate of 14 per cent and referred to the Titan craft as "experimental" three times in the four-page liability waiver.

• Resurfaced footage shows Titan spinning after pilot loses control on mission
• OceanGate CEO said glue holding Titanic sub together was ‘like peanut butter’
• Titanic sub implosion: OceanGate CEO’s chilling words about Titan revealed as company shutters after disaster

The submersible began taking people to the Titanic wreckage in 2021 and according to the company's website, OceanGate completed more than 14 expeditions and 200 dives in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico using two submersibles.

It touted its craft as having a roomier cylinder-shaped cabin made of carbon-fibre – a departure from the sphere-shaped cabins made of titanium used by most submersibles. External experts have previously raised concerns over the construction and materials used in the sub.

The 22-foot long, 10,432kg Titan’s larger internal volume was still crampt at its maximum capacity of five seated people.

The submersible was not certified or approved by any regulatory bodies, the waiver reportedly said. It also said that the submersible was "constructed of materials that have not been widely used for manned submersibles".

In a 2018 video posted to the company’s YouTube channel, Rush can be heard describing the glue used to hold the carbon-fibre submersible’s structure together as being “like peanut butter,” saying it was “pretty simple” and thicker than Elmer’s glue. Rush admits that “if we mess it up, there’s not a lot of room for recovery”.

David Lochridge, the former director of OceanGate’s marine operations between 2015 and 2018, raised his concerns over the sub’s safety and says he was fired as a result.

After leaving the company, Mr Lochridge reportedly emailed his associate Rob McCallum – who later also left over safety concerns – to share his worry that Rush would get himself and others killed in a quest to satiate his “ego.”

While Mr Lochridge raised numerous concerns about the submersible during an inspection, his most serious concern was with the carbon-fibre material used to make the hull.

Brian Weed, a former passenger, told Insider that the sub had failed a test drive in 2021 because its thrusters stopped working and was stuck underwater for more than two hours. It eventually never made it further than 100 feet.

The Independent has reached out to OceanGate for a comment.

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What we know about the 5 men who were aboard the wrecked Titan sub

Ayana Archie

The five men who were aboard the Titan were declared dead on Thursday after search and rescue crews found evidence the submersible had imploded. Bill Sikes/AP; Victoria Sirakova/Getty Images; Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images; Engro Corporation Limited via Reuters hide caption

The five men who were aboard the Titan were declared dead on Thursday after search and rescue crews found evidence the submersible had imploded.

The five people who have been missing since going on a deep sea dive destined for the Titanic shipwreck are believe to have died , officials said Thursday.

"These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans," OceanGate, the company that developed the submersible, said in a statement. "Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time."

The passengers included British businessman Hamish Harding, Pakistani investor Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.

Here's what we know about them.

Hamish Harding

British businessman Hamish Harding, pictured here in Beverly Hills, Calif., in January, was the holder of three Guinness World Records. Victoria Sirakova/Getty Images hide caption

British businessman Hamish Harding, pictured here in Beverly Hills, Calif., in January, was the holder of three Guinness World Records.

Harding was the chairman of Action Aviation, an aviation sales and consulting company.

Retired NASA astronaut Terry Virts told NPR his friend Harding "is an explorer by nature."

Harding broke the Guinness world record for the fastest flight around both the Earth's poles in 2019, in which Virts was a crew member. Harding has additionally broken Guinness world records for the longest duration at a full ocean depth by a crewed vessel and the longest distance traveled along the deepest part of the ocean.

Shahzada Dawood

Dawood was the vice chairman of Engro, a Pakistani energy investment company, and the Dawood Hercules Corp., an investment and holdings firm. He had expertise in mergers and acquisitions in companies across industries, such as textiles, fertilizers, foods and energy.

All 5 passengers aboard Titan sub are believed dead after 'catastrophic implosion'

Additionally, he served on various boards, including the SETI Institute, a NASA-funded nonprofit dedicated to extraterrestrial research, and Prince Charles' charity, Prince's Trust International.

Dawood obtained an undergraduate law degree from Buckingham University in the U.K. and a master's of science in global textile marketing from Philadelphia University (now known as Thomas Jefferson University).

He is survived by his wife, Christine, and his daughter, Alina.

Suleman Dawood

The 19-year-old Suleman, a college student, was the son of Shahzada Dawood.

He had recently completed his first year as a business major at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.

Stockton Rush

OceanGate CEO and co-founder Stockton Rush speaks near Nantucket, Mass., on June 13, 2016. Bill Sikes/AP hide caption

OceanGate CEO and co-founder Stockton Rush speaks near Nantucket, Mass., on June 13, 2016.

Rush, a British businessman, founded OceanGate in 2009 and served as the organization's CEO, overseeing the development of submersibles that would be able to travel up to 20,000 feet below the ocean's surface.

"Taking an early lead in an emerging market, Stockton recognized that private industry funding and utilization of modern materials could have a major impact on our ability to explore the deep oceans while significantly lowering the cost of discovery," the OceanGate website says.

The wife of OceanGate's CEO is descended from a famous couple who died on the Titanic

In 1981, Rush became the youngest jet transport rated pilot in the world at the time at 19, flying to destinations, such as Cairo, Mumbai and Zurich, according to his biography.

He received a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from Princeton University and a business master's degree from UC Berkeley. In 1989, he developed his own experimental aircraft, which he had flown before.

He additionally served on boards and development teams for companies making sonar systems, software and remote controls, as well as at The Museum of Flight in Seattle.

Paul-Henri Nargeolet

Paul-Henri Nargeolet, pictured at a Paris expo in May 2013, was considered a leading Titanic expert. Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Paul-Henri Nargeolet, pictured at a Paris expo in May 2013, was considered a leading Titanic expert.

Nargeolet, known as "Mr. Titanic" for his expertise of the ship, spent 22 years in the French navy, where he was eventually ranked commander. He retired from the navy in 1986 and oversaw two deep sea submersibles at the French Institute for Research and Exploitation of the Sea. While there, he led the first recovery dive to the Titanic wreckage in 1987, according to his biography.

He was the director of underwater research for RMS Titanic Inc., a company dedicated to preserving the history of the Titanic, and the E/M Group, a company that provides exhibitions and other entertainment.

The missing submersible raises troubling questions for the adventure tourism industry

He completed 37 dives in a submersible to the Titanic shipwreck over the course of his career, and supervised the retrieval of 5,000 of its artifacts, including a 20-ton section of the hull.

Nargeolet was born in Chamonix, France, but lived in Africa for 13 years with his family before returning to France at age 16.

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How many dives had OceanGate done prior to the Titan implosion?

OceanGate has been performing extremely risky deep-dive expeditions since 2009 with the now infamous Titan submersible being capable of diving down up to 4000 meters. All in all, the company had three submersible vehicles before the tragedy that took place on Sunday, and between them, they had done plenty of similar dives.

It has since been confirmed that the submersible most likely imploded on Sunday. But the Titan’s last expedition wasn’t the only time that it had been taken down to view the wreck of the notorious ship. While trips were planned in 2018, regulations and technical issues scuppered plans. Former OceanGate employee, David Lochridge, flagged numerous health and safety concerns around that time which may have been what caused the planned expeditions to be pushed back. Ultimately, Lochridge was fired from the company and even ended up being taken to court by OceanGate over breach of contract.

The Titan performed its first Titanic dive in 2021

Despite this, the company was able to go ahead with the Titanic dives in 2021, and since then, the Titan has been back down to the wreck 14 times in total, six times in 2021 and seven times in 2022. Due to poor weather, OceanGate was only able to perform one dive in 2023.

The other submersibles, Cyclops 1 and Antipodes, were similar in design to the Titan and could also only seat five passengers, however, they were not capable of going as deep. Between the three, they had undertaken more than 200 expeditions since the company was established. It’s worth noting that Antipodes has actually completed around 1,300 dives during its service, but most of them were before it was purchased by OceanGate in 2009.

Despite the vast number of dives between all three vehicles, the tragedy that unfolded on Sunday seemed almost inevitable. While tragic, hopefully, this horrific accident will serve as a reminder of why it’s important to heed health and safety regulations.

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What to Know About Venice’s Fees for Day Trips

Venice is trying to mitigate overtourism with a small fee on busy days. City leaders hope it will make visitors more aware of the city’s fragility.

By Elisabetta Povoledo

Reporting from Rome

After years of debate , Venice on Thursday began charging day visitors five euros to visit its fragile historic center on peak days, making it the first city in the world to adopt such a measure to counter overtourism.

Critics question whether a nominal fee will put people off from visiting one of the world’s most desired destinations. But officials hope that it might encourage some to rethink their plans and decide to come on weekdays or in the off-season.

That might help mitigate the impact of the estimated 20 million visitors who descended last year on the city’s beleaguered residents, who number fewer than 50,000, according to municipal statistics . About half of those visitors came only for the day, city officials said. Overnight guests are exempt from the fee.

The spirit of the initiative, city officials have said, is to make people aware of the uniqueness — and fragility — of Venice. Overtourism is creating an economy solely based on tourism that risks killing the city by pushing its dwindling residents out, said Nicola Camatti, an economics professor and expert in tourism at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

When will Venice start charging?

The fee went into effect on Thursday, a holiday in Italy. For 2024, city officials have singled out 29 peak days when single-day travelers in Venice between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. have to pay. The days run until mid-July and are mostly on national holidays and weekends. The access-fee website provides a list of the dates.

Who must pay?

While just about everyone visiting the city has to register to obtain a QR code, not all visitors have to pay the fee. Overnight guests at registered accommodations like hotels or Airbnbs are exempt, because they already pay a daily tourist tax, as are people who study or work in Venice and those visiting relatives. There are other exemptions as well.

Residents of Venice, those born there and minors under 14 are among those who do not have to register. But they must have documents that prove their status.

It is possible that different fees will apply next year on a sliding scale that will depend on how many people city officials expect on any one day. City officials said the fees could be as high as 10 euros per day.

How will the system work?

Before coming to Venice on peak days, visitors should use the website to register and get a QR code.

The code will be scanned at points where visitors enter, like the train station, the city parking lot, the airport and the sprawling waterfront along the San Marco basin where boats dock. The access points will have one line for tourists and another for residents and what officials call city users, who are coming into Venice for reasons other than sightseeing.

At least for now, those who do not register ahead of time can do so at some access points or on their cellphones, officials said. Assistants will be available.

Initially, the controls will be “very soft,” said Michele Zuin, the municipal councilor responsible for the city’s budget.

Speaking to reporters at the foreign press association in Rome this month, Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said the fee was not about cashing in on tourists. “The costs of the operation are higher than what we’re going to make,” he said.

Why is Venice doing this?

City officials hope to relieve some of the stress that tourists put on the city by encouraging them to come on less busy days. They also say that by knowing ahead of time how many visitors to expect, the city can better deploy services.

“We want to better manage the numbers of tourists and disincentivize mass tourism” that makes it difficult for residents and visitors to “live in this city,” Mr. Zuin said this month.

To track the flow of visitors, the city already monitors them via phone location data and surveillance cameras, a system some critics have likened to Big Brother .

Venice has also fallen under the scrutiny of the United Nations’ culture agency, UNESCO, whose experts are concerned that not enough is being done to protect the city. Last year, Venice risked being added to UNESCO’s list of Endangered World Heritage Sites after experts at the agency listed mass tourism , along with climate change and development, as a major threat to its future. It urged City Hall to take steps to ameliorate the damage.

The municipal council approved the access fee just days before UNESCO was to vote on its status, and Venice stayed off the “in danger” list . But UNESCO officials said in a statement that “further progress still needs to be made” to conserve Venice.

Critics of the access fee note that officials have not capped the number of visitors, and they say that the nominal fee is hardly a deterrent. As recently as Friday, city officials said that about 80,000 visitors swelled the city’s narrow calli, as the streets are known, and the gardens of the 2024 Venice Biennale , still the world’s principal place to discover new art .

How else is Venice trying to restrict visitors?

Venice also has taken other steps it hopes will reduce what city officials call “mordi e fuggi” tourism, or “eat and flee,” referring to those who seek the city’s greatest hits — the Rialto Bridge and St. Mark’s Square — and who bring packed lunches and dump their garbage, contributing little to the local economy.

After years of heated debate and protests by vocal Venetians, the city banned cruise ships from its inner canals in 2021 , though Mr. Camatti, the tourism expert, said the ban on the ships had not reduced the number of day visitors.

This year, the city imposed a limit of 25 people per tour group and also banned the use of megaphones.

Elisabetta Povoledo is a reporter based in Rome, covering Italy, the Vatican and the culture of the region. She has been a journalist for 35 years. More about Elisabetta Povoledo