22/06/2023
Five crew members aboard the submersible Titan were probably killed instantly in a “catastrophic implosion” as it descended to the wreck of the Titanic two miles below the surface of the Atlantic ocean, US Coast Guard officials announced on Thursday.
A large debris field containing multiple sections of the vessel were spotted earlier in the day by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) scouring the seabed near the Titanic wreck site 400 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland, officials said at an afternoon press conference in Boston.
“The debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber,” R Adm John Mauger of the US Coast Guard told reporters.
Search and rescue officials say the men likely died on Sunday - before military planes using sonar buoys detected what they thought could have been SOS 'banging' sounds in the water.
The victims are OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, French Navy veteran Paul-Henri (PH) Nargeolet, British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, who was just 19.
It would have been an instant death for the men, some of whom had paid $250,000 each to see the famous shipwreck.
In a gut-wrenching blow for their families, experts say there is little prospect of recovering any of their remains.
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