‘EXTREME’

‘Suicide Mission’: Former Titanic Sub Passenger Outlines Hellish Conditions

“It must be hell down there. There’s only 2.50 meters of space, it’s four degrees, there’s no chair, no toilet,” Arthur Loibl said.

A German adventurer who embarked on the daring voyage in 2021 to see the Titanic wreckage via OceanGate’s Titan submersible, currently missing since Sunday, said even “back then” it was a “suicide mission.” “You need strong nerves, you mustn’t be claustrophobic and you have to be able to sit cross-legged for ten hours,” Arthur Loibl, 60, who has done the journey twice, told German newspaper Bild. He said he was “incredibly lucky” when he made the descent, which was apparently delayed by five hours because of electrical issues. The fact that “the first submarine didn’t work” and “a dive at 1,600 meters had to be abandoned” loomed in the back of his mind as he set out on the Titan’s fifth-ever trip. Right before the tour, a bracket from a tube that balances the vessel broke off and was “reattached with zip ties,” he said. Despite previous risky adventures, such as flying over Russia in a MiG-29 fighter plane, Loibl called the Titanic tour “the most extreme.” He hoped the lost crew returns. “It must be hell down there. There’s only 2.50 meters of space, it’s four degrees, there’s no chair, no toilet,” he said.