Debris discovered near the Titanic wreckage has been confirmed by the US Coast Guard as belonging to the missing Titan submersible, resulting in the declaration of all five people on board as deceased.
During a press briefing, Rear Admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard revealed that a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) located the tail cone of the Titan submersible approximately half a kilometer away from the Titanic's bow on the seabed.
"Subsequently, the ROV found additional debris, which, according to experts from the unified command, is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber," Mauger stated.
Expressing his condolences to the families, Mauger's announcement followed a statement by OceanGate Expeditions, the US-based company responsible for the submersible, which sadly acknowledged the presumed loss of all five passengers aboard the Titanic-bound vessel.
The passengers included billionaire and explorer Hamish Harding, French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet, members of a prominent Pakistani family Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, as well as OceanGate Expeditions CEO and Titan pilot Stockton Rush.
According to news reports, the submersible vanished during a dive to the Titanic wreck in the North Atlantic, more than 600 kilometers off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The US Coast Guard led an international search effort, racing against time as the submersible was estimated to have a 96-hour oxygen supply that was expected to be depleted on Thursday morning.
Reports emerged of sonar devices detecting banging noises in the vicinity of the submersible's disappearance on Tuesday and Wednesday. However, Mauger stated that there seemed to be no correlation between these noises and the submersible's location on the seabed.
OceanGate Expeditions utilized the five-person submersible to reach the wreckage situated 3,800 meters beneath the ocean's surface. The company's website advertises a seven-night voyage to the Titanic, charging $250,000 per person, with the proceeds contributing to Titanic research.
(With inputs from IANS)
