TITANIC

WATCH: Missing submarine was controlled by Playstation controller

A CBS story which aired prior to the submarine going missing shows that the Titan was controlled by a reinforced video game controller.

Last year, the Titan, the submarine which has now been missing since Sunday, went on a similar expedition to see the remains of shipwrecked Titanic. CBS correspondent David Pogue accompanied the crew at that time, along with New York-based writer Mike Reiss. That time, the Titan also went missing, though only for a few hours.

In a CBS story, Pogue spoke about the deep sea vessel, operated by a company called OceanGate Expeditions, and said there were some parts that seemed “improvised”, including the fact that it was controlled by a reinforced Playstation controller.

In part of the paperwork that he signed, the document read, “This experimental vessel has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, emotional trauma, or death.”

Reiss emphasized that the paperwork is very clear, so although it may seem from the surface that there were oversights in the construction, every person who chose to get on board was aware of the potential dangers.

“You sign a massive waiver that lists one way after another that you could die on the trip,” said Reiss. “They mention death three times on page one so it’s never far from your mind. As I was getting onto the sub my thought was this could be the end. So nobody who’s in this situation was caught off guard. You all know what you are getting into.”

The submarine has emergency oxygen for up to 96 hours for five people. On Monday, the US Coast Guard estimated the crew members had somewhere between the 70 and 96 hours of oxygen left available to them, which means that the oxygen will likely run out by Thursday afternoon (Eastern Time) at the latest.