All five men on board OceanGates’s Titan have been lost, according to a statement from the organization.
“This is an extremely sad time for our dedicated employees who are exhausted and grieving deeply over this loss. The entire OceanGate family is deeply grateful for the countless men and women from multiple organisations of the international community who expedited wide-ranging resources and have worked so very hard on this mission,” said OceanGate in a statement Thursday.
A debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic on Thursday. Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information, according to a tweet from the US Coast Guard.
During a press briefing Thursday, the US Coast Guard REAR ADM John Mauger said, “This morning, an ROV or remote operated vehicle, from the vessel Horizon Arctic, discovered the tail cone of the Titan submersible approximately 1600 feet from the bow of the Titanic on the sea floor. The ROV subsequently found additional debris. In consultation with experts from within the unified command, the debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber. Upon this determination, we immediately notified the family.”
The full statement from the company:
“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.
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. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.
This is an extremely sad time for our dedicated employees who are exhausted and grieving deeply over this loss. The entire OceanGate family is deeply grateful for the countless men and women from multiple organizations of the international community who expedited wide-ranging resources and have worked so very hard on this mission.
We appreciate their commitment to finding these five explorers, and their days and nights of tireless work in support of our crew and their families.
This is a very sad time for the entire explorer community, and for each of the family members of those lost at sea.
We respectfully ask that the privacy of these families be respected during this most painful time.”
The search intensified on Wednesday for the submersible vessel carrying five people that vanished while heading to tour the Titanic wreckage site off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Officials confirmed Wednesday that ‘banging’ noises were picked up, and they are currently searching that area offering a glimmer of hope.
“We have to remain optimistic and hopeful when we’re in a search and rescue mission,” Capt. Jamie Frederick, the First Coast Guard District response coordinator, said at a news conference Wednesday.
When asked about the search becoming a recovery mission, Frederick said Wednesday, “We’re not there yet.”
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“This is a search and rescue mission, 100%,” Frederick said. “When you’re in the middle of a search and rescue case, you always have hope.”
The Coast Guard did not elaborate on what rescuers believed the noises could be.
Questions remain about how teams could reach the lost submersible, which could be as deep as about 12,500 feet below the surface near the watery tomb of the historic ocean liner Titanic.
On the vessel is Stockton Rush, the CEO of the company leading the expedition with passengers British pilot Hamish Harding, two members of a Pakistani business family Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
We will update this story as more details in the search for the missing vessel are released.
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