A US Coast Guard official said he could not say what the prospects were of recovering the bodies of those killed on the Titan expedition.
All five people onboard the Titan submersible have died, the US Coast Guard has said. Rear Admiral Mauger confirmed five major parts of the Titan were found approximately 1600ft from the bow of the Titanic wreck.
The debris discovered was consistent with a "catastrophic implosion", he added. Onboard the vessel was OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, British billionaire Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
READ MORE: All Titan passengers confirmed dead as five major pieces of the submarine are found
The Rear Admiral said he he could not confirm whether the bodies could be recovered.
Rear Admiral John Mauger said: “This is an 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.”
Expedition company OceanGate also issued a statement following the news. It 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. 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.
"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 Coast Guard official also added it was too early to know the timing of the implosion. At the press conference in Boston today, he said: “We know that as we’ve been prosecuting this search over the course of the last 72 hours and beyond that we’ve had sonar buoys in the water nearly continuously and have not detected any catastrophic events when those sonar buoys have been in the water.”
