Days after the tourist submersible went missing from the radar in its voyage to explore the Titanic, it has now been confirmed that all the five aboard the submersible are dead after the vessel suffered “catastrophic implosion.”
According to US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger the parts of the Titan were found approximately 1,600 ft from the bow of the Titanic wreck.
“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” said OceanGate Expeditions, the company that owned the vessel.”
It is reported that an unmanned deep-sea robot was sent from a Canadian ship that spotted “debris field”.
It may be recalled here that the submersible lost contact with its support ship an hour and 45 minites after its descent.
Earlier, OceanGate, the tour firm responsible for the expedition, stated that all possible measures are being taken to rescue the five individuals on board. The eight-day trip, which includes dive into the Titanic wreck at a depth of 3,800 meters (12,500 feet), costs $250,000 (£195,000) per ticket.
The five people who lost their lives are identified as British Billionnaire Hamish Harding, 58, Pakistani-born business magnet Shahzada Dawood, 48, his 19-year-old son Suleman, French Oceanographer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet, 77 and Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate.
Despite the fact that the Titanic wreck is located roughly 435 miles (700 km) south of St John’s, Newfoundland, the search expedition is being coordinated from Boston, Massachusetts.
The company’s eight-day trip offers participants an extraordinary opportunity to step outside their everyday lives and embark on a unique adventure. OceanGate owns three submersibles, and only the Titan is capable of reaching the depths required to explore the Titanic wreckage.
The vessel, weighing 23,000 pounds (10,432 kilograms), can reach depths of up to 13,100 feet (4,000 meters) and has a 96-hour life support capacity for a crew of five.
Efforts to communicate with the missing submersible are currently hindered, as neither GPS nor radio signals function underwater. The inability to establish contact poses challenges for both the submersible crew and the support team on land.
The Titanic, the largest ship of its day, sank during its maiden voyage in 1912 after striking with an iceberg. Since its discovery in 1985, the wreck has been intensively examined. The bow and stern are separated by approximately 2,600 feet (800 metres) and are surrounded by a massive debris field.
A complete digital scan of the wreck was recently generated utilising deep-sea mapping, revealing extensive insights about the ship’s magnitude and minute characteristics such as propeller serial numbers.