New Delhi: The five passengers aboard the deep-sea Titan submersible were declared dead by the US Coast Guard on Thursday, after debris from the vessel was found near the Titanic wreck.
The vessel is said to have experienced a “catastrophic implosion”, following which death would have been instant.
While the US Coast Guard would continue the search in an effort to recover what it can, experts believe it is unlikely any of the bodies will ever be found.
The international, multi-agency search over five days tried desperately to find the vehicle that had gone down Sunday to explore the wreck of the Titanic, 4 kilometres below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.
In a press conference, US’s Rear Admiral John Mauger said a remote operated vehicle (ROV) deployed by a Canadian ship found parts of the submersible in a debris field — around 1,600 feet away from the hull of the Titanic.
The debris was consistent with the conclusion that the vessel imploded somewhere near the wreck. The Coast Guard believes it happened on Sunday as the vessel, belonging to OceanGate Expeditions, was nearing the wreck in its descent.
The US Navy said their devices picked up an “acoustic anomaly that could have been an implosion” on Sunday, after the Titan had dived in. The Navy relayed the information to the Coast Guard, said an official to CBS News.
The debris found from the vessel consisted of five main parts — segments of the pressure hull, the tail cone — that confirmed the vessel’s implosion was due to “loss of the pressure chamber”.
Experts are yet to confirm the reason behind the implosion, and former US Navy physician Dale Moor said “death would have likely been instantaneous”.
The search for the missing vessel, which had onboard Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman, British billionaire Hamish Harding, French explorer Paul Henry Nargeolet, and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, involved multiple countries and devices. The US Coast Guard was assisted by British submariners, a French deep-sea robot, and Canadian ships.
After the vessel went missing off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada on Sunday, the US Coast Guard was immediately alerted. Both the US and Canadian military were involved in looking for the truck-sized vessel for the next five days.
On Monday, a Canadian aircraft picked up “banging sounds” from the ocean, following which the Coast Guard relocated their search.
Now, experts say the banging sounds were probably not connected to the Titan submersible.
As the Coast Guard confirmed the deaths of the passengers, it also clarified the challenges related to recovering the bodies. “This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the seafloor,” said Rear Admiral Mauger. “We will continue to work and search the area down there,” he added.
Also read: ‘Wish I’d spoken up’: James Cameron found the hull design of submersible Titan risky
International response
With the US officials’ press conference, came a stream of condolences from international actors. The privately-owned US company, OceanGate Expeditions, released a statement saying there were no survivors. “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 company said. “Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time.”
James Cameron, the director of the 1997 film Titanic, said he wished he had expressed his reservations over the vessel’s hull design earlier. In an interview to Reuters, Cameron said he was part of the small deep-sea submersible community and when he initially heard that OceanGate was making a vessel with an aluminium and carbon fiber hull, he thought it was a bad idea.
He knew the submersible was gone on Monday itself, Camron said. He received information about a loud noise in the ocean around the same time that the submersible lost communication. He emailed his colleagues on Monday saying, “We’ve lost some friends today and the submersible is probably on the bottom in pieces right now.”
Condolences also came from the White House, thanking the international support in search of the vessel. The Pakistan and UK governments also released statements expressing condolences to the families of the passengers.
Families of the passengers have also released statements paying tribute to their loved ones. Suleman Dawood’s aunt said: “He was terrified of going in the vessel” but wanted to please his father.
The family of 77-year old French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet mourned his death, and said he will be remembered as “one of the greatest deep-sea explorers in modern history”. His friend Larry Daley, on the other hand, said his death was symbolic as he died close to what he loved – “exploring the Titanic”.
Also read: Experts flagged safety concerns about missing Titanic submersible in 2018