Wreckage of the Titan was brought from the depths of the Atlantic ocean on Wednesday, marking another step in the ongoing recovery efforts following the submarine’s devastating implosion. The photos shared here by the The Independent show what appeared to be several pieces covered with white tarps being unloaded from the ships Sycamore and Horizon Arctic at the Canadian Coast Guard pier in St John’s, Newfoundland – more than a week after it imploded around 13,000 feet underwater close to the wreckage of the Titanic, killing all five men on board.
The images are the first captured of the Titan since it disappeared on Sunday June 18 about 2 hours after it started its mission to the wreckage of the Titanic. Now, an international group of agencies will investigate what may have caused the implosion, with US maritime officials planning to issue a report aimed at improving the safety of submersibles worldwide, according to the outlet.
Billionaire Hamish Harding went missing with four others while plunging to the depths of the North Atlantic in a van-sized submersible on June 18. The vessel suffered a catastrophic implosion sometime after it submerged Sunday morning. After days of searching, the U.S. Coast Guard announced that a debris field found 1,600 feet from the wreck of the Titanic was the remains of the submersible, which had suffered an implosion. It’s not clear exactly when or where the implosion occurred, but a U.S. Navy acoustics system detected an “anomaly” Sunday that was likely the Titan’s fatal implosion.
Father and son who died in catastrophic implosion remembered as 'best friends' by family.
In a virtual memorial service, the family of Shahzada Dawood and his teenage son Suleman, described their "spirit of exploration". https://t.co/kb0GEmOdyT pic.twitter.com/Jea72zQ6ME
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 27, 2023
Rear Admiral John Mauger, the commander of the U.S. Coast Guard leading the search, said in a news conference that the recovery of the bodies will take some time due to the “unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor.”
A spokesperson for OceanGate Expeditions, the Titans operator, also said in a statement, “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.” Stockton was the Oceangate chief executive and Titan pilot; Shahzada and his son Suleman were two members of a prominent Pakistani family, and Paul-Henri was a Titanic expert.
This was OceanGate’s third voyage to the Titanic, which struck an iceberg and sank in 1912, killing all but about 700 of the roughly 2,200 passengers and crew. “These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” OceanGate added in the statement. “We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.”