BOSTON, United States — Five passengers aboard the deep-sea submersible died after a “catastrophic implosion.”
All five passengers aboard a vanished submersible have died after a “catastrophic implosion,” officials said Thursday after underwater robots discovered seafloor debris from the sub.
A robot from the Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic discovered several major fragments of the 21-foot sub, the Titan, in a debris field about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic, U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. John W. Mauger said at a news conference.
“The debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber,” Mauger said.
Moreover, the bereaved families have been notified, he said.
“On behalf of the U.S. Coast Guard and the unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families,” he said. “I can only imagine what this has been like for them. I hope that this discovery provides some solace during this difficult time.”
“I know that there’s also a lot of questions about how, why, and when this happened,” Mauger said. “Those are questions we will collect as much information as we can on now.”
The five passengers were Stockton Rush, the pilot of the exploration and OceanGate Expeditions’ chief executive, which owns and operates the sub; Hamish Harding, a chairman of Action Aviation, Dubai-based aircraft dealer; Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a veteran and accomplished diver with more than 30 trips to the wreck site; and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood.
OceanGate has been running expeditions with “citizen explorers” to the Titanic since 2021 on its Titan sub, according to its website. But as the search unfolded, new details emerged that submersible industry leaders, oceanographers, and former employees had long sent warning signs about the Titan.
The Titan, operated by the U.S.-based company OceanGate Expeditions, went missing since it lost contact with its surface support ship on Sunday morning about an hour, and 45 minutes into what should have been a two-hour dive to the world’s most famous shipwreck. – WhatALife!/Val
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