The missing Titanic sub fell outside safety rules by operating in international waters beyond the law, experts say

• Experts had questioned the safety of the submersible that went missing near the wreck of the RMS Titanic.
• They said the vessel didn't fall under safety rules by operating in international waters.

The submersible that went missing near the wreck of the HMS Titanic with five people on board didn't fall under vessel safety rules because it operated in international waters, experts have said.

An urgent search-and-rescue mission is underway for the submersible, the Titan, owned by tourism company OceanGate. The company charges $250,000 a head for trips to see the wreck around 700 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.

Time is running out to find the five people on board. Experts believe they only have enough oxygen inside the submersible to last until Thursday afternoon.

Stefan B. Williams, a professor at the Australian Centre for Field Robotics at the University of Sydney, told Insider that expeditions such as those launched by OceanGate were able to avoid strict safety regulations.

"I think it's a relatively nascent industry. I don't think there's a lot of regulations associated with it," he said.

"I don't know of any specific regulations associated with this sort of deep sea tourism that's starting to emerge. I think it is relatively rare that it's happening and you can see from the reports of the cost associated with getting people onto these vessels that it's an expensive business."

In comments to The New York Times, experts reflected that assessment.

Bart Kemper was one of the signatories of a 2018 letter to OceanGate that highlighted safety concerns around Titan. He told the Times that OceanGate's vessel evaded regulations by being deployed in international waters, where Coast Guard rules don't apply.

Salvatore Mercogliano, an associate professor of maritime history at Campbell University in North Carolina, told the Times that because the Titan is loaded onto a Canadian boat, then dropped into the ocean in international waters, it didn't have to register with a country or follow rules that apply to many vessels.

Insider has contacted OceanGate for comment on the claims.

On Tuesday, The New York Times published a letter sent by The Marine Technology Society, a group of leading experts on submersible technology, to OceanGate discussing urgent fears about the safety of the Titan.

The experts criticised the "current experimental approach adopted by OceanGate", and urged the company to have the vessel examined by industry regulators and independent groups that assess the safety of submersibles.

A 1993 US law governs the safety requirements for submersibles carrying passengers.

In a 2019 interview, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who is among those missing on the submersible, criticised the law, saying that it was "understandable but illogical," and stifled experiment and innovation.

In a 2022 CBS report, journalist David Pogue was made to sign a waiver before embarking on a Titanic expedition on the submersible saying that the Titan was an "experimental vessel" that had not been "approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, emotional trauma or death."

In the report, Rush insisted that submersible travel was safe, yet admitted there were risks involved.

"You know, there's a limit. You know, at some point, safety just is pure waste. I mean, if you just want to be safe, don't get out of bed," he said.

"Don't get in your car. Don't do anything. At some point, you're going to take some risk, and it really is a risk/reward question. I think I can do this just as safely by breaking the rules," Rush told the outlet.