Four families are now in mourning for the five victims of the Titan submersible, all of whom are now presumed dead following a dramatic and intense search operation that captivated the public across the globe.
The sub lost all communication on Sunday on its journey to the Titanic's wreckage in the North Atlantic, and the US Coast Guard says they have found a debris field that almost certainly belongs to the Titan.
WATCH ANYTIME FOR FREE
Stream NBC10 Boston news for free, 24/7, wherever you are. |
Many more questions remain, though, about the ordeal, including what went wrong and what officials knew about it.
Get updates on what's happening in Boston to your inbox. Sign up for our News Headlines newsletter.
Over the coming months, investigators are expected to focus on the how and the why behind the sub's implosion, while officials look into whether or not more regulations are needed to prevent this from happening again.
For now, resources that were deployed for this search operation are being pulled back, except some underwater vehicles known as ROVs, or remote operated vehicles.
These deep-sea robots will continue to scan the bottom of the ocean, with hopes of recovering more parts of the Titan sub and any remains of the five men who died in the implosion.
The Navy says that implosion could have been detected on Sunday, right around the time that communication with the sub failed.
Crews using an ROV owned by a Cape Cod company found the debris field on Thursday linked to the submersible, about 1,600 feet away from the Titanic wreckage site. That debris included landing gear, the rear cove and the frame of the missing underwater vessel.
"We're going to continue remote operations on the sea floor and I don't have a timeline for when we intend to stop remote operations on the seaport," Rear Admiral John Mauger, Commander of the 1st Coast Guard District in Boston, said.
The hope is to also try to find the remains of the passengers to help their families with closure.