The 5 passengers who vanished while attempting to examine the Titanic shipwreck were most likely lost as a result of a “catastrophic implosion” of their ship, the Coast Guard stated on Thursday.
Rear Admiral John Mauger of the U.S. Coast Guard said at a news conference that five significant pieces of wreckage had been discovered on the bottom on Thursday morning, 1,600 feet from the Titanic’s location. This discovery was “consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber.” They subsequently informed the families and expressed their regrets, according to Mauger.
Regrettable announcement of losing 5 passengers
Prior to Mauger’s remarks, OceanGate, the organization in charge of the expedition, made the regrettable announcement that the 5 passengers “have sadly been lost.”
The statement read, “These men were true explorers who shared a spirit of adventure and a strong enthusiasm for exploring and safeguarding the world’s waters. “During this tragic time, our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families,” the statement reads.
The somber statement came four days after the Titan, a 21-foot tourist submarine, went missing 900 miles east of Cape Cod, sparking a huge effort to locate it before its 5 passengers ran out of oxygen.
Missing Titanic submersible likely imploded near wreck, 5 passengers dead
Expected to exhaust its 96-hour supply of breathing air.
On Thursday morning, the Titan was expected to exhaust its 96-hour supply of breathing air. Even if they had been able to reach the surface, individuals inside would not have been able to open the door on their own because it was fastened from the outside. When questioned about the likelihood of retrieving the remains, Mauger referred to the circumstances as “unforgiving” and claimed there were no current chances for doing so.
Five people, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, 61, British billionaire and explorer Hamish Harding, 58, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son, Suleman, as well as 77-year-old French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, set out on the Titan early on Sunday morning to tour the Titanic wreckage.
Banging noises
About one hour and forty-five minutes after launch, the Canadian research ship Polar Prince, which served as an expedition support ship, lost touch with the submersible. On Sunday night, OceanGate reported the Titan missing, sparking a large multinational search effort coordinated by the U.S. Coast Guard and supported by the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Coast Guard, U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Air National Guard.
The Titan crew’s possible survival was given optimism after underwater “banging noises” were heard by a Canadian P-3 plane equipped with sonar listening equipment on Tuesday and Wednesday. However, while adamantly insisting that the search remains in the rescue phase, Coast Guard authorities issued a warning at the time that they were unsure of what generated the noises.
“This is a search and rescue mission, 100%,” Frederick said on Wednesday. “We are right in the middle of search and rescue, and we will keep using every resource at our disposal to try to locate the Titan and the crew members.”
