An international effort to find a missing submersible and five people onboard has ended in tragedy as U.S. Coast Guard officials announced they found debris they believe is the remains of the vessel Thursday afternoon.
Officials said using remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) deployed to search the sea floor, they found a debris field that led them to believe there was a "catastrophic implosion" of the Titan — a submersible run by OceanGate Expeditions, which was on an excursion to see the remains of the Titanic.
"In consultation with experts from within the Unified command the debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber," Rear Admiral John Mauger said. "Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families."
Teams from several countries frantically searched an area about 900 miles east of Cape Cod. Thursday afternoon, a search device found a piece of the vessel 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic wreck.
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When asked if it was likely searchers would be able to recover the bodies, Mauger could not say.
"This is an incredibly unforgiving environment and the debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel. We’ll continue to work and search the area but I don’t have an answer for prospects at this time," he told reporters.
OceanGate Inc. released a statement on the tragedy Thursday afternoon, after days of desperate searching in hopes of a rescue.
"We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost," the company's statement reads. "These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans. Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew."
The submersible lost communication about an hour and 45 minutes into its excursion, which began on Sunday morning. The company's website describes a "mission support fee" of $250,000 per person.
The vessel was not a large one. It was 22 feet, 20,000 pounds and made from carbon-fiber.
The Coast Guard said they will continue to use the ROVs investigate the debris found in the area, but could say little on the probability of finding the lost passengers.
A U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson told NBC News that on Thursday morning, another two vessels arrived to the search area — Canadian CGS Ann Harvey and the Motor Vessel Horizon Arctic, which is a remotely operated vehicle (ROV).
The search area — which U.S. Coast Guard officials said Wednesday is twice the size of Connecticut — was in waters that are 2.5 miles deep, and prone to fog and storminess.
Underwater "banging noises" were picked up by Canadian aircraft, which joined underwater robots, military ships and other equipment in an impressive line up of resources that have been deployed during the rescue mission. The Canadian military said it also placed buoys in the water to listen for any sounds from the Titan.
"I think when you're in the middle of a search and rescue case, you always have hope. That's why we're doing what we do," U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick said at a Wednesday afternoon press conference. "With respect to the noises specifically, we don't know what they are, to be frank. The good news is I can tell you we're searching in the area where the noises were detected and we'll continue to do so."
The submersible lost communication about an hour and 45 minutes into its excursion, which began on Sunday morning. Five people went to observe the Titanic's wreckage, including the CEO of OceanGate, Stockton Rush. Alongside him were British adventurer Hamish Harding, French explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet, along with Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman. The company's website describes a "mission support fee" of $250,000 per person.
As the public and media have placed a microscope on the vessel and its parent company this week, safety concerns have been driving much of the conversation around the search — including some of the household items used in the engineering of the craft, and allegations that insufficient testing and certification could lead to danger for passengers.
The company responded to that 2018 lawsuit by claiming that the vessel mentioned was just a prototype, and that the company official who made the claim was not an engineer.
The Associated Press reported that at least 46 people have successfully made the trip to the Titanic wreck site on OceanGate's submersible in 2021 and 2022.
