Experts fear the bodies of those who vanished on the imploded Titan submarine may never be found.
It comes after the US Coastguard confirmed debris found on the seabed belongs to the OceanGate submarine that vanished on Sunday.
A “catastrophic failure” is believed to have led to an implosion of the submarine, US Coast Guard has confirmed.
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.
In a press conference on Thursday, 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.
“Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families.”
The search and recovery of the bodies of the passengers will continue despite a challenging environment, Rear Adm. John Mauger said.
He added: “This is a incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor.
"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."
The debris field was found 1,600 feet from the bow of the sunken Titanic, a spokesperson for the USCG said.
The Titan submersible lost contact with its mother ship Polar Prince an hour and 45 minutes into its journey about 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland.
A spokesperson for Pelagic Research Services confirmed it was their ROV carried upon the Horizon Artic, which was the first to search for the submersible, found the debris field.
Due to the pressure around the famous sunken ship being about 375 atmospheres, it would have resulted in the men not having felt anything as they were subjected to the equivalent of 5,500 pounds of force.
The force pushes water into any air-filled space, such as the lungs replacing it with salt water.
The vessel disappeared an hour and 45 minutes after first descent.
The update from the USCG came moments after OceanGate, the business behind the trip, said they believed the crew to be dead.
A spokesperson for the company said: "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."
It wasn't until eight hours later the crew alerted the coastguard, sparking a multi-million dollar international search and rescue operation.
Kathleen Cosnett, a cousin of Harding, yesterday condemned the time it took to raise the alarm.
“It’s very frightening,” she said.
“[It] took so long for them to get going to rescue [them]. It’s far too long. I would have thought three hours would be the bare minimim.”
