A transcript that allegedly described the conversations between the people on board the deadly Titan submersible and its mother ship during the June descent towards the Titanic catastrophe has been exposed as being entirely fabricated.
When the communications record was made public last summer, it raised red flags because it revealed a sequence of concerning occurrences that transformed a descent to the bottom of the Atlantic into a last-ditch battle for survival.
The purpose of this record was to document the five travelers' fruitless attempts to return to the surface. However, the leader of the federal investigation team in the US has since stated that the transcript is wholly fake.
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The purpose of this record was to document the five travelers' fruitless attempts to return to the surface (Dirty Dozen Productions/OceanGat)Following an extensive investigation that lasted nearly a year, the team was unable to uncover any evidence suggesting the Titan's occupants were aware of the impending catastrophic implosion that would ultimately result in their deaths. The pressures at the two miles below the surface where the tragedy happened would have instantly caused the submersible's hull to disintegrate.
"I have no doubt that this transcript is fake." Chairman of the Marine Board of Investigation and retired U.S. Coast Guard officer Captain Jason D. Neubauer said, "It was made up." It's unclear who the fake document's initial source was.
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It appeared that the Titan's crew was dealing with hull alarms and cracking sounds in a panic before communications suddenly cut off (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) When the fake transcript surfaced in late June, it purported to show minute-by-minute conversations full of technical terms and accurate descriptions, including acronyms specific to the Titan that gave it a genuine feel.
It appeared that the Titan's crew was dealing with hull alarms and cracking sounds in a panic before communications suddenly cut off. The Real Time Hull Health Monitoring system, or R.T.M., was the main subject of the transcript.
The purported last message said: "Please respond if you're able" (AP)Click here to follow the Mirror US on Google News to stay up to date with all the latest news, sports and entertainment stories
Proprietary, according to OceanGate, the device has 'an unprecedented safety function that assesses the integrity of the hull throughout every dive' to alert users to potential problems.
According to a section of the Titan transcript, it reported to the mother ship that there were multiple hull alarms along with crackling sounds. As the fictitious communications came to a conclusion, a notice about the sensor said, "RTM alert active all red." However, the phony transcript came to a stop when the mothership sent seven communications inquiring about its whereabouts.
The purported last message said: "Please respond if you're able." "Somebody did it well enough to make it look plausible," Neubauer said, with the log making the adventurers "look like they were panicking."
Former Navy submariner and submersible pilot Dr. Alfred S. McLaren first thought the transcript made sense, but he later surmised that it might have been faked to hurt OceanGate's reputation or upset the victims' families.
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