The small vessel that was transporting the five individuals aboard the submersible to the Titanic disaster site suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” according to the Coast Guard on Thursday afternoon. The submersible had been missing for days.
An extensive worldwide search effort discovered a debris field near the Titanic earlier in the day, and it was later determined that it contained pieces of the Titan submarine.
The First Coast Guard District commander, Rear Adm. John Mauger, stated at a press conference that the debris was “consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel.”
According to Mauger, the wreckage was discovered on the ocean floor roughly 1,600 feet from the Titanic’s bow. He added that it was still too early to determine the exact time the Titan imploded.
However, a senior military official said that a “anomaly” that the U.S. Navy discovered on Sunday was probably the lethal blast from the small watercraft. The Navy discovered the anomaly after reviewing its acoustic data after the submersible went missing on that particular day.
Under the condition of anonymity, a senior Navy officer told The Associated Press that the anomaly was “consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general vicinity of where the Titan submersible was operating at the time communications were lost.” The data was sent to the Coast Guard by the Navy, but it wasn’t thought to be final.
According to the The owner of the submersible that went missing, 5 trapped people who paid $250,000 each for the tour of the Titanic Wreck on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean are now dead. #OceanGate #submarine pic.twitter.com/d4QB6oe6wh
— Man’s NOT Barry Roux (@AdvoBarryRoux) June 22, 2023