Five men on missing Titanic sub confirmed dead after debris reveals ‘catastrophic implosion’
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet ‘have sadly been lost’
The five crew members on board the missing submersible Titan died in a “catastrophic implosion”, the US Coast Guard has confirmed.
Oceangate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, British billionaire Hamish Harding, and French adventurer Paul-Henri Nargeolet were on board the Titan when it lost communications with a support ship less than two hours into a 4,000m dive to the Titanic shipwreck on Sunday.
A remotely operated vehicle (ROV) located pieces of debris from the Titan on the seabed about 500m from the bow of the Titanic wreck on Thursday morning Rear Admiral John Mauger, the First Coast Guard District commander, told a press briefing.
The debris was analysed and confirmed to belong to the Titan, and family members were informed there had been no survivors.
The bodies of the five deceased crew members may never be found, Admiral Mauger added.
“This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor and the debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel.
An OceanGate spokesperson confirmed that the five crew members had “sadly been lost” in a statement to The Independent.
“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans.
The Titan submersible vanished 105 minutes after launching from the Polar Prince icebreaker research ship about 900 miles off the coast of Cape Cod on Sunday morning.
