By Arabella Balderama

The United States (US) Coast Guard announced on Thursday, June 22, that the submersible, also known as Titan, cruising to the century-old wreck of the Titanic was found destroyed due to a “catastrophic implosion,” with no survivors.

The Titan went missing on Sunday morning, about an hour and a half into a dive that was meant to take two hours to reach the world’s most famous shipwreck.

According to US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger, a robotic diving vehicle found debris of the underwater craft on the seabed, 488 meters from the bow of the Titanic and four kilometers beneath the surface, in a remote corner of the North Atlantic Ocean.

As stated by Coast Guard Officials, five major fragments of the 22-foot Titan were discovered, with no sight of human remains. These parts included the vessel’s tail cone and two sections of its pressure hull. 

The craft contained five people, namely, Hamish Harding; Paul-Henri Nargeolet; Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood; and Stockton Rush, the CEO of the tour organizer, OceanGate Expeditions. All five died in the craft.

“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans. Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time,” OceanGate said in an issued statement grieving the men onboard.

Undersea sounds detected

Mauger said that the search teams used sonar buoys for over three days, which did not detect any sound generated from the Titan’s implosion.

However, the debris field’s location and the time frame of the last communication with the vessel suggested that the voyage failed as it was about to finish its descent on Sunday, June 18.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the buoys detected several banging sounds, temporarily giving hope that the Titan was unscathed and its passengers were still alive.

Officials claimed, however, that the sound analysis was not definitive and that it was more likely that the noises came from something else.

“There doesn’t appear to be any relation between the noises and the location of the debris field on the seafloor,” Mauger said, adding that the submerged robotic machine would keep looking for evidence.

Moreover, the possibility of recovering the victims’ remains stayed unclear given the nature of the disaster and the severe conditions at the depths in which it occurred.

The Titanic-bound journey operated by OceanGate Expeditions has been ongoing since 2021, costing $250,000 (approximately PHP 13.9 million) per person, as stated on the company’s website.

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