Online stores sell miniatures of the Titan submarine, which imploded

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OceanGate vehicle replicas can be found for prices ranging from R$ 36.90 to R$ 139.90

Online commerce stores take advantage of the great exposure of the accident with the submersible Titan, which imploded in the Atlantic Ocean, to try to profit from products that refer to the case. Websites put up for sale small replicas of the vehicle manufactured by the company OceanGate that was making an expedition to see the wreckage of the Titanic – the accident killed five people last month. Replicas can be found for sale for prices ranging from R$36.90 to R$139.90. The models are made by 3D printer and sold on sites such as Mercado Livre and Shopee. “Have your own miniature OceanGate Titan”, says one of the advertisements, which recommends not leaving the product exposed to intense sunlight and not washing with hot water. Other sites, such as Aliexpress, sell a T-shirt with the OceanGate logo. In the European version of the online store, the pieces cost, on the night of this Wednesday (5), € 10.66 (about R$ 55) – the products do not appear in the Brazilian version. The Titan disappeared in the Atlantic, with five people on board, on the last day of the 18th, 1h45 after the start of the dive to see the wreckage of the Titanic. Then, on June 22, the US Coast Guard confirmed that the submersible had imploded. Since then, many questions have arisen about the infrastructure of the model operated by OceanGate. More than once, the company was alerted by specialists about the submersible’s possible problems, but dismissed the criticism claiming that it was an innovative work. The American businessman Stockton Rush, 61, owner of OceanGate and pilot of the vehicle, British billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, chief executive of the company Action Aviation, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, vice-president of the Engro conglomerate, were on board the Titan. and his son Suleman Dawood, 19, and Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, an expert diver on the Titanic. The vessel was capable of functioning autonomously, supplying its occupants with oxygen for 96 hours. The Titan submersible was driven by a controller similar to that of video games, and its interior was cramped and simple.