(New York Post) The Titan submersible carrying five tourists, including two billionaires, suffered a “catastrophic implosion” on its trip to view the wreckage of the Titanic — killing all passengers instantly, the US Coast Guard announced Thursday.
Debris from the wreckage discovered on the ocean floor Thursday is “consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber,” effectively meaning the sub was crushed under the weight of the sea at some point after it lost contact with its surface vessel on Sunday.
US Coast Guard officials said five major pieces of debris from the OceanGate vessel were found 1,600 feet from the 1912 shipwreck.
It is currently unknown what could have caused the implosion or when, as the sub made it’s journey to the ocean floor 12,500ft below.
The Coast Guard added they “don’t have an answer for prospects of recovering the bodies,” pointing out the bottom of the ocean is an incredibly unforgiving environment to both search and recover debris from.
A remote operated vehicle reportedly found a landing frame and a rear cover from the missing submersible.OceanGate
Rear Admiral John Mauger updates the media.REUTERS
The passengers lost on the vessel were British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Sulaiman.
“We offer our most heartfelt condolences for the loved ones of the crew,” Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick said Thursday.
Reached at his home in Seattle on Thursday, Stockton’s son Richard would only tell The Post: “We don’t wish to speak at this time,” through a doorbell camera.
The US First Coast Guard District confirmed the discovery Thursday afternoon, saying a Remotely Operated Vehicle — an unmanned undersea probe — had discovered debris from the Titan, including its nosecone and the front end bell of the vessel’s pressure hull.
A satellite image of the search and rescue operation for the missing Titan submersible.Satellite image 2023 Maxar Technologies.
The Coast Guard said the debris and information was still being evaluated.Satellite image 2023 Maxar Technologies.
“A debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic,” Rear Admiral John Mauger said, adding a “Smaller debris field within the debris field,” had been found by Odysseus 6K, an ROV made by Mass. based Pelagic Research Services, which had been launched from the Canadian ship Horizon Arctic.
The Coast Guard also said the debris and information was still being evaluated.
Rescue expert David Mearns, who was in contact with those close to some of the victims, said the group was informed that the debris found was “a landing frame and a rear cover from the submersible.”
“Again, this is a very unconventional submarine. That rear cover is that pointy end of it and the landing frame is this little frame that it seems to sit on … that confirms it’s the submersible,” Mearns, who was friends with billionaire Harding and Nargeolet, told Sky News.
