OceanGate on Thursday said that it believes that all members on the Titan submersible have died. The US Coast Guard, in a press conference, stated that search crews discovered “five different major pieces of debris”.
“We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost,” OceanGate said in a statement.
Also read: Can Titan Five’s bodies be recovered from OceanGate submersible after it imploded?
The submersible headed for the Titanic wreckage site went missing on Sunday. An International effort was launched to hunt the five people aboard. US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger on Thursday said that an unmanned deep-sea robot deployed from a Canadian ship discovered the wreckage of the Titan about 1,600 feet (488 meters) from the bow of the Titanic, 2-1/2 miles (4 km) below the surface.
“The debris field here is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vehicle,” Mauger said.
The United States employed three C-17 army transport planes, several support teams, submersible boats and an aquatic drone, which has the ability to dive to 20,000 feet, for the mission. Canada sent a patrol aircraft and two ships. France also joined by sending a ship carrying an underwater robot.
The exact cost of the mission is not known. However, chief executive of the National Search and Rescue Association Chris Boye said that it must have taken ‘millions’. He was not clear on who will pay for the hunt.
He added that it might fall “on the taxpayers of the countries involved”.
Mauger added that medical personnel and nine vessels involved in the Titanic submersible search will be demobilized over the course of the next 24 hours.
“Remote operations will continue on the sea floor for an undetermined amount of time,” he added.
