The U.S. Coast Guard said that debris collected indicated the Titan submersible had suffered a "catastrophic explosion," killing five people on board.
At a press conference in Boston, Massachusetts on the afternoon of June 22 (early morning of June 23 Hanoi time), US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger announced that an autonomous underwater vehicle deployed from a Canadian ship had detected debris from the Titan submersible approximately 488 meters from the bow of the Titanic wreck, at a depth of 4,000 meters in the North Atlantic.
According to officials, five major fragments of the 6.7-meter-long submersible were found among the debris left behind after the vessel broke apart. "The fragments indicate a catastrophic explosion occurred in the pressure chamber," Mauger said.
Just before the U.S. Coast Guard press conference, OceanGate, the company that operates the Titan submersible, issued a statement saying that no one survived, including the company's founder and CEO, Stockton Rush. Rush was the submersible's operator.
Rear Admiral John Mauger of the U.S. Coast Guard at a press conference in Boston, Massachusetts on June 22. Photo: Reuters
The remaining passengers were British billionaire and explorer Hamish Harding, 58; Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son, Suleman, both British citizens; and French oceanographer and renowned Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77. Nargeolet had visited the shipwreck dozens of times.
"They were true adventurers, sharing a spirit of adventure and a passion for exploring and protecting the world 's oceans. Our hearts go out to them and their families during this tragic time," the company said.
Rear Admiral Mauger said it was too early to know exactly when the Titan submarine met with the accident. Search teams had placed sonar buoys underwater in the area for more than three days without detecting any loud, violent noises that could have occurred when the submarine exploded.
However, the relatively close proximity of the debris to the Titanic wreck and the timing of the last contact with the Titan seem to suggest the incident occurred as the ship was preparing to land on the seabed on June 18th.
The sonar probe picked up some sounds on June 20th and 21st, raising hopes that the Titan was intact and that those on board were trying to communicate by tapping on the hull. However, analysis suggests the sounds may have come from something else.
"There appears to be no correlation between the noise and the location of the debris on the seabed," Mauger said.
According to him, the search team and ship will soon leave the scene after a four-day multinational operation, but autonomous vehicles will continue to collect evidence on the seabed. It is currently unclear whether the victims' bodies can be recovered, given the nature of the accident and the harsh conditions at that depth.
"On behalf of the U.S. Coast Guard and the entire search and rescue command center, I extend my deepest condolences to the families," the U.S. rear admiral added.
From left to right: Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, Suleman Dawood, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and Stockton Rush, victims of the Titan submersible. Photo: CNN .
The Wall Street Journal quoted an unnamed official as saying that the U.S. Navy's secret underwater acoustic monitoring equipment recorded an explosion at the time the Titan disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean. This equipment was designed to detect submarines.
"The U.S. Navy analyzed the acoustic data and detected an anomaly consistent with an explosion in the vicinity of where the Titan submersible was operating when contact was lost," the official said.
The submersible Titan disappeared on June 18 while carrying five people on a tour of the Titanic wreck at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, about 600 km off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. According to the company's website, the underwater expedition to the Titanic wreck has been offered by OceanGate since 2021, at a price of $250,000 per person.
How did the Titan submersible disappear? Click on the image for details.
Huyen Le (According to AFP , Reuters )
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