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By Katherine Fung
Senior Writer
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Donald Trump Jr. raised questions about the ongoing search and rescue mission for the missing Titanic submersible, saying all the details that have come out about the expedition have been "insane and sketchy."
"Literally everything I've seen about this missing submarine is insane and sketchy AF... almost none of it makes any sense whatsoever. How long till we find other external factors making it even more so???" Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday.
The search for the submarine continues more than four days after the vessel, which takes passengers to the wreck of the Titanic, lost contact with a chartered support ship on Sunday morning. On Wednesday, the Coast Guard announced that the search would expand "exponentially" as officials rush to find the five people on the sub before its 96-hour oxygen supply runs out. There are currently five vessels searching for the submersible and five more are expected to join.
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The details Trump Jr. could have been referencing include size (which OceanGate calls "roomy", but @alex_abads declared the opposite on Twitter), the inability to escape the pod or even open the hatch from the inside (which left many online queasy), the fact that the submersible is operated with a simple gaming controller, or the rumor that the Titan has lost contact with its mothership before.
Trump Jr. isn't the only Republican who has been skeptical of the developments surrounding the sub. On Tuesday, Representative Dan Crenshaw of Texas said he heard "disturbing reports" that Coast Guard officials were blocking or delaying the deployment of a critical rescue vessel called the Magellan.
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"If true, this is deeply concerning," Crenshaw tweeted. "We should be doing everything in our power to help in this rescue effort and I've sent an official request for the Magellan to be deployed ASAP."
The submersible has also prompted a number of conspiracy theories, including one suggesting orcas were involved in the vessel's disappearance and another that weather played a factor. Both those theories have been debunked.
The wreckage of the Titanic lies in two parts about 12,500 feet below the surface southeast of Newfoundland, Canada, but even some of the most skilled divers can only swim a few hundred feet under the surface. The current record for the deepest underwater rescue is 1,575 feet below the surface. That survivor, 85-year-old Roger Mallinson, told Newsweek his only advice to the trapped is to make noise to attract rescuers.
Reports have also emerged, in the wake of the vessel's disappearance, that OceanGate Expeditions, the private company operating the missing sub, had ignored warnings from industry experts and employees about the dangers of its operations.
Will Kohnen, the chair of the Marine Technology Society's Submarine Committee, told NPR that the missing sub "hasn't surprised" those who knew of OceanGate before this week's mission.
"We've been aware of this project for some time and have had some concerns," Kohnen said.
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