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The Simpsons writer Mike Reiss has revealed he took a trip on the missing Titanic submarine last year – and he’s not hopeful about the current rescue mission.
Known as Titan, the sub has been missing in the depths of the ocean since Sunday (June 18).
Carrying five passengers, the vessel intended to explore the Wreckage of the sunken Titanic ship but it’s now a race against the clock to find the group alive as their oxygen levels decrease.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Monday (June 19), showrunner Mike admitted he ‘doesn’t know’ how the submarine can be rescued from how deep it is and he’s ‘not optimistic’.
He also shared his own experiences with the submarine.
‘I know the logistics of it and I know how vast the ocean is and how very tiny this craft is,’ he began.
Mike Reiss went on the Titanic sub last year and they lost communication each time (Picture: BBC)
‘If it’s down at the bottom I don’t know how anyone is going to be able to access it, much less bring it back up.’
Mike then explained that he went on three different dives with the company OceanGate Expeditions, which owns Titan, and that they ‘almost always lost communication’.
‘I got on the sub and at the back of my mind was, “Well, I may never get off this thing,” that’s always with you.’
However, he insisted that he’s not saying the ship is ‘shoddy’ but it is ‘new technology’ so they are ‘learning it as they go along.’
‘You have to just remember the early days of the space programme or the early days of aviation, where you just make a lot of mistakes on the way to figuring out what you’re doing.’
The ship has been missing since Sunday with five passengers onboard (Picture: Oceangate Expeditions)
On the experience the current missing passengers will have had, he explained that the risks are made clear.
‘People should know, to even get on the boat that takes you to the Titanic, you sign a massive waiver that lists one way after another that you could die on the trip,’ he said, adding that the documents mention death ‘three times on page one’.
‘Nobody who is in this situation was caught off guard. It’s very bad things broke this way but you all know what you’re getting into.
‘It’s really exploration. It’s not a vacation and it’s not thrill-seeking. It’s not like sky diving, or something. These are explorers and travellers who want to see something.’
Mike says passengers know what they are ‘getting into’ (Picture: AP)
The passengers currently aboard the submarine are said to have paid $250,000 (£195k) for the experience.
They started off with a four-day oxygen supply which will run out at around 10.30 GMT on Thursday (June 22).
Currently missing are British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Sulaiman Dawood, and Stockton Rush, the founder of OceanGate.
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He went on three dives with the company and they ‘almost always lost communication’.