The deep-sea submersible carrying five people to the Titanic wreckage in the Atlantic disintegrated into the ocean after a “catastrophic implosion”, killing everyone on board, the US Coast Guard has said. This puts an end to the gigantic multi-national search operation that went on for days.
What did the officials find during their search?
All that was found was five major fragments of the submersible, which dove into the ocean on Sunday and lost contact with its support vessel on the surface one hour 45 minutes into its journey to the Titanic wreck site. The Coast Guard officials have said that the remains found included Titan’s tail cone and two sections of its pressure hull.
The news came days after banging sounds were detected underwater. Following that, the search operation was redirected to find the origin of the noise. As per media reports, experts believed that the sound could have been because of the Titanic debris and not Titan.
What did OceanGate Expeditions say?
OceanGate Expeditions, the firm which carried out the failed expedition, released a statement confirming the death of all the five crew members. The firm called them “true explorers” having a “distinct spirit of adventure”. “Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time,” it added.
A look at those who lost their lives
British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, who holds three Guinness World Records, is on the list of people who were aboard. Besides Harding, Pakistani-born businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman were on board. Titan also carried French oceanographer and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolot. He had visited the wreck several times before. Piloting the vessel was OceanGate’s Founder and CEO Stockton Rush.
In the midst of all this, the US Navy has reportedly acknowledged that an analysis of its own acoustic data showed “an anomaly consistent with an implosion or explosion” near Titan’s location after its communication was lost on Sunday.