Experts fear that the bodies of the five Titanic submersible victims may never be found after the missing vessel imploded in the Atlantic Ocean.
Founding member of the Board of Trustees of The Explorers Club, Hamish Harding was on board, alongside UK-based businessman Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman Dawood, and OceanGate’s chief executive and founder Stockton Rush, as well as French submersible pilot Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
The news comes after the the US Coastguard confirmed that debris found on the seabed is that belonging to the OceanGate submarine that vanished on Sunday.
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The deep-sea vessel, named Titan, lost communication with tour operators on Sunday while about 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland.
The pressure chamber of the OceanGate Titan was found among other debris, approximately 1,600ft from the bow of the Titanic on the seafloor by a remote operated vehicle (ROV) on Thursday.
In a press conference Rear Admiral John Mauger, First Coast Guard District commander who has led the search for Titan, told reporters they had found debris of the missing Titan at 5am EST (10am UK time).
Confirming the submersible had imploded, he said: “The debris is consistent with a catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber. This is a incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the seafloor.
"And the debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel, and so we’ll continue to work and continue to search the area down there, but I don’t have an answer for prospects at this time."
