According to a senior Navy official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the decision was made to continue the search and rescue mission to "make every effort to save the lives on board." The information, which was not conclusive, was immediately shared with the US Coast Guard.
The Titan submersible's five crew members died on Thursday from a "catastrophic implosion," according to the Coast Guard, while examining underwater debris discovered by a remotely operated vehicle. The wreckage was discovered 1,600 feet (488 meters) from the Titanic's bow.
At a briefing in Boston, Rear Admiral John Mauger stated, "We immediately notified the families." I convey my sincere condolences on behalf of the US Coast Guard and the entire unified command.
An ROV from the Horizon Arctic found the ship's nose cone early Thursday morning. The Coast Guard reported that shortly thereafter, additional pieces of debris, including portions of the ship's pressure hull, were discovered.
According to Mauger, the unified command does not know when the search operations on the sea floor will end. He went on to say that the team would keep gathering data in an effort to figure out what caused the explosion.
Interest from around the world As an international fleet of ships and aircraft frantically surveyed a portion of the North Atlantic twice as big as Connecticut, the Titan's disappearance sparked interest from around the world. Concerned that the Titan's estimated 96-hour oxygen supply was dwindling after it lost contact with the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince on June 18, rescuers raced around the clock.
Earlier this week, the US Coast Guard reported that the search turned up unidentified sounds, but those sounds had nothing to do with the missing vessel. The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing a statement from a US defense official, that only hours after the submersible had deployed, an elite US navy acoustic detection system picked up the sound of a blast near the debris site.
The 58-year-old British entrepreneur and avid adventurer Hamish Harding was on board the Titan; French oceanic master Paul-Henry Nargeolet, 77; Stockton Rush, 61, chief executive officer of OceanGate Inc., based in Everett, Washington; and Suleman Dawood, a father and son from one of Pakistan's most prominent families, Shahzada Dawood, 48, and Suleman Dawood, 19.
OceanGate said in a statement, "These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans." During this difficult time, our thoughts and prayers are with these five souls and their entire families. We mourn their loss and the happiness they brought to everyone they knew.
The Titan, a carbon fiber and titanium craft with a length of 6.7 meters, was built to carry a pilot and four crew members to a maximum depth of 4,000 meters (13,120 feet). An onboard system was able to monitor the crew's health and provide "early warning detection for the pilot with enough time to arrest the descent and safely return to surface," according to OceanGate's website.
However, after the Polar Prince lost all communication with the Titan on June 18, approximately one hour and 45 minutes after diving toward the Titanic, which sank in 1912 on its first trans-Atlantic voyage, no messages were received.
OceanGate claims that it provides "qualified explorers" with the opportunity to join as mission specialists on 10-day expeditions to the Titanic site. The science team that is looking into the ship that sank in 1912 while making its first transatlantic voyage after hitting an iceberg is supported by their fees. According to its website, OceanGate also organized expeditions to investigate the shipwreck in 2021 and 2022.