NB Explains | All 5 on Titan submersible dead; Here is all you need to know about the tragic end
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The five people aboard a missing submersible, named Titan, died in a "catastrophic implosion," a US Coast Guard official said on Thursday. This puts an end to the international search for the vessel that was lost during a deep-sea voyage to the wreck of the Titanic.
The five aboard included the British billionaire and explorer Hamish Harding; Pakistani-born business magnate Shahzada Dawood, and his 19-year-old son, Suleman, both British citizens; French oceanographer and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, who had visited the wreck dozens of times; and Stockton Rush, the American founder and chief executive of OceanGate, who was piloting the submersible.
What were the findings?
An unmanned robot deployed from a Canadian ship discovered the wreckage of the Titan on Thursday morning about 1,600 feet from the bow of the century-old wreck, around 4 km below the surface in a remote area of the North Atlantic, reported Reuters.
Five major pieces of the Titan have been found, including most of the pressure hull.
Rescue teams from several countries had spent days searching thousands of square miles of open seas with planes and ships for any sign of the 22-foot Titan. The submersible lost contact with its support ship on Sunday morning about an hour and 45 minutes into what should have been a two-hour descent.
What was the reason?
The US Navy detected a sound that would match an implosion on Sunday, the day it went missing, and search teams have since found fragments of the Titan submersible, confirming those on board have perished. An underwater implosion refers to the sudden inward collapse of the vessel, which would have been under immense pressure at the depths it was diving toward.
Titanic sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912 after hitting an iceberg, killing about 1,500 passengers and crew. The wreckage was found in 1985 and inspired diving enthusiast Cameron to make Titanic.