Was the Titanic submersible found empty?
On Wednesday, June 21st, a Facebook user named Timothy Junior shared a CNN news report stating that the OceanGate submersible named Titan, which had been reported missing on Sunday, had been discovered, but it was found to be empty.
The headline of the news article read: “Empty Discovery: Missing OceanGate Submarine Located.”
The report sparked uncertainty among netizens who came across it, leading to widespread online speculation, particularly on Facebook initially and later on Instagram.
The original Facebook post that initiated the discussion quickly gained traction, being shared over 6,000 times in less than 24 hours.
However, it turned out that the information was nothing more than a rumor.
The submersible, which had five passengers on board and was en route to explore the Titanic wreckage, has not been located yet.
Interestingly, the user who initially shared the post later admitted to finding it on Twitter but cautioned that it “might be a hoax.”
Subsequently, it was revealed that CNN had not published any such report, and the viral article was entirely fabricated.
A spokesperson from CNN confirmed this fact through email communications with other news outlets like Associated Press (AP) and USA Today.
The spokesperson clarified that the submersible was still missing at the time the false story was circulated.
The false CNN report about the Titanic submersible claimed Wendy Rush as their source
On Wednesday, a false CNN report began circulating on social media, suggesting that the Titanic submersible had been located and was found empty.
The headline of the fabricated report, titled “Missing OceanGate Submarine Found Empty,” alleged that Wendy Rush, the wife of OceanGate’s CEO and founder Stockton Rush, was the source of this information.
It is important to note that Wendy Rush was incorrectly identified as a co-founder of OceanGate, which she is not.
However, her association with the company can be confirmed through her LinkedIn account, where she is listed as the communications director and a long-time board member of its charitable foundation.
Additionally, the false news report was accompanied by an image of an OceanGate submersible.
However, keen observers noticed an unusual red bar at the top of the photo with the word “CATEGORY.” This raised suspicions about the authenticity of the image.
CNN’s spokesperson, while debunking the viral claim, highlighted that the news report did not adhere to CNN’s design or font.
Furthermore, the spokesperson pointed out that the image itself was incorrect.
Instead of depicting the lost Titan submersible, the image displayed the Cyclops 1 Submersible, further discrediting the false report.
It is unfortunate to note that CNN has experienced instances in the past where fabricated news reports have been falsely attributed to them.
Such incidents have involved altering images from their original broadcasts and creating misleading headlines.
In reality, during the time when the false news report was circulating, the search and rescue operations for the Titanic submarine were still underway, and no traces of the submersible had been found yet.
Moreover, there was growing concern as it was believed that the five passengers aboard the submarine had less than 24 hours’ worth of oxygen supply.
This time constraint heightened the urgency of the rescue operation, as each passing moment decreased the chances of their survival.
Among the individuals trapped inside the Titan submersible are Stockton Rush, who serves as the pilot, and Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a French submersible pilot and content expert.
Additionally, there are three other tourists who had paid $250,000 each for the trip.
These individuals include Shahzada and Sulaiman Dawood, a father-son duo from a prominent and affluent family in Pakistan, known for their wealth and notoriety.
The third tourist is Hamish Harding, a British billionaire businessman, and explorer.
As of Wednesday, multiple agencies engaged in the search and rescue mission, including the US Coast Guard, Canadian Coast Guard, US and Canadian Navies, and OceanGate, among others, had collectively covered over 8,000 miles of open sea in the North Atlantic region near the Titanic wreckage site.
In an effort to intensify the search, the US Coast Guard confirmed that they were significantly expanding their efforts.
The submersible named Titan had lost contact with its mother ship, Polar Prince, which is a Canadian vessel, just 1 hour and 45 minutes into its dive.
However, on both June 20 and 21, search teams detected “banging” noises and “acoustic feedback” sounds near the last known location of the Titan submersible.
These findings gave hope that the search parties were in proximity to the missing submersible.
