EAST AURORA, N.Y. — A Coast Guard hearing on the implosion last June of the submersible Titan, which killed five people aboard as it was diving on the Titanic wreckage, has brought back up the work of an East Aurora based firm which helped lead that rescue effort.
During the hearing, which continues next week, a video of debris from the Titan on the sea floor was released by the Coast Guard.
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It was actually recorded by the crew of technicians from Pelagic Research Services, who were operating this remotely piloted vehicle called Odysseus at a depth of 12,500 feet below the surface of the North Atlantic.
2 On Your Side spoke with Pelagic CEO Ed Cassano again about the rescue effort that began with a call to him in the hours after contact was lost with the Titan, and a hurried flight with their equipment aboard Air Force cargo planes to St. John's, Newfoundland.
They eventually deployed these ocean-going ships.
"From the minute the phone call happened until we found the debris on the sea floor, it was a rescue. And that was true for us, true for the Horizon Arctic and the Captain Adam Myers. It was true for all the responders that were on scene," Cassano said.
"There were ten to 12 ships, multiple aircraft from multiple air forces and coast guards. It was all a rescue and it was not anything else until the debris was found."
Odysseus was launched in the ocean from the Horizon Arctic platform ship with the technicians using a specialized high-tech control room which was also flown and then shipped to the scene, along with other support equipment.
The Odysseus conducted seven dives to help recover the Titan debris with its manipulator arms and grasping claws at the end of them.