Missing Titanic sub: Youngest woman to reach Titanic wreckage says she would do it again despite risks
TAMPA, Fla. - A Tampa woman, who is the youngest female to ever see the Titanic wreckage in person says she would do it all over again even as the search continues for the missing OceanGate submersible.
The most famous shipwreck in the world lies more than 350 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada and more than two miles below the surface.
Reaching the Titanic's remains was the goal for a 27-year-old Tampa woman – even after learning the risks.
"All of the things you think about that could go wrong fade away when you get down there," said Michelle Turman, who is the youngest woman to dive to the resting place of the Titanic.
RELATED: No sign yet of missing Titanic submersible after extensive search, Coast Guard says
In 2000, she worked for RMS Titanic, the company that had salvage rights to the wreckage which was based in Clearwater at the time. Turman was the curator of Titanic artifacts to be used in the company's museum exhibit.
Pictured: Michelle Turman as she prepared for a mission to the site of the most famous shipwreck in the world.
She dove to the wreck twice aboard a Russian submersible called Mir, a 3-person craft smaller than the one recently lost in the Atlantic.
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Rescuers in the remote area of the Atlantic Ocean continue to race against time to find the missing submersible before the oxygen supply runs out for five people on a mission to document the Titanic wreckage.
Related: Titanic Museum exhibit curator reflects on shipwreck deep dives
Michelle Turman, the curator for the Titanic Museum exhibit, was able to do two dives down to see the shipwreck. She reflects on the deep dive she took as the race against time continues for a missing tourist submersible near the Titanic wreckage.
As Turman followed the current search, she remembered what she heard 23 years ago about the potential dangers. For one, if the hull suffered a tiny breach, the submersible could implode.
"You implode in half a second. Your brain can't even register, so that's the best-case scenario. You don't even know what happened," she said.
Michelle Turman spoke with FOX 13's Lloyd Sowers after returning from a mission to visit the Titanic wreckage in the Atlantic Ocean.
Different malfunctions could cause passengers to suffocate. An on-board fire could also be catastrophic. There are many more risks that people face aboard a submersible descending two miles beneath the ocean.
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"But at the end of the day, it's either in your core or your spirit to do something like this," Turman said.
More than 20 years later, the youngest woman to dive to the Titanic said she would do it again today despite the risks.
