Fears Go Viral As Titanic Tourist Sub Goes Missing With Five Possibly Aboard

A submarine that takes tourists into the depths of the Atlantic to view the Titanic has vanished, sparking fears the five people thought to be aboard may have met a fate similar to those who sailed on the iconic ship.

OceanGate Expeditions operates the submersible which drops tourists, who pony up $250,000 for a 10-day adventure, down for hours at a time from a vessel high above the Titanic, which rests some 2.5 miles down on the seabed about 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

On Monday, social media was on fire after news broke that the submarine was missing. The BBC reported the Boston Coastguard said efforts were underway to find the wayward vessel which takes passengers to view the wreckage of the Titanic.

“Prayers for everyone involved,” said one user. “The titanic to the titanic 🙁 so sad,” said another. “My worst ever nightmare. I hope they are all safe,” tweeted a third.

“I wouldn’t call this ironic, but it’s pretty damn close,” said one user. “The sea is an unforgiving place for terrestrial animals,” a different user said.

The “OPA (orca planet alliance) declined to comment,” said one user, alluding to recent reports of killer whales accosting boats. “To all the people making jokes I pray you never have to face that nightmare,” commented another user.

The Titanic sank during its maiden voyage in April 1912 after hitting an iceberg while making the journey from Southampton, England, to New York City, according to History.com. With the vessel sinking and passengers scrambling for a spot on a lifeboat, more than 1,500 people of the roughly 2,240 aboard the Titanic died.

Several decades later, in 1985, a joint French-American expedition found the wreckage of the ship, located some 13,000 feet underwater on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. Further exploration, a blockbuster movie, and deep-sea tourism ensued.

As news spread about the tourist vessel going missing on Monday, more people commented on the story, adding insight and commentary as information about the missing tourist ship and search-and-rescue operation remained sparse.

“The article doesn’t give many details of the missing underwater vehicle besides calling it a ‘small submersible.’ One such submersible that takes tourists down to the Titanic wreckage, the ‘Titan’, holds 5 people including 3 tourist,” said Steve Lookner of Agenda-Free TV.

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! pic.twitter.com/sujBmPr3JD

— OceanGate Expeditions (@OceanGateExped) June 1, 2023

He shared a link to a Robb Report article from May 2022 that explored a $250,000 tourist getaway from OceanGate Expeditions. As of press time, it appeared a lot of people were visiting the website for OceanGate Expeditions as repeated efforts to visit it produced a “Service Unavailable” message.