UNITED STATES: Engineers have retrieved the remaining wreckage and maybe human remains from the Titan submersible, which broke apart during a tragic expedition to the Titanic, the US Coast Guard says.
In June, the vessel was destroyed during a dive into the shipwreck. All five passengers on board lost their lives in the incident.
The search for the submersible triggered a global search effort and captured the public’s attention until the initial debris was discovered several days later.
On Tuesday, Coast Guard authorities reported that they had retrieved the additional portions of the vessel from the ocean floor last week and transported them to a United States port for examination. Medical professionals will examine the recovered human remains.
Although the Titan submersible was labelled “experimental” by OceanGate, the firm that constructed it, the sub made multiple dives to the Titanic wreck, which lies in the North Atlantic Ocean 3,800 metres (12,467 feet) below sea level.
Stockton Rush, the company’s CEO, was on board the deadly ship when it disintegrated due to the extreme water pressure.
The other four passengers who lost their lives on board were: Shahzada Dawood, a British-Pakistani businessman aged 48, along with his 19-year-old son Suleman, as well as British businessman Hamish Harding, 58, and Paul-Henry Nargeolet, 77, a retired French navy diver.
United States court documents revealed that Rush disregarded safety warnings regarding the submersible. Following the incident, OceanGate, which had been organising dives in various global locations, halted all of its operations.
The Titan’s hull was constructed from carbon fibre, featuring titanium end plates and a small window at one end. Carbon fibre, although more cost-effective than titanium or steel, is an uncommon and relatively untested material for deep-sea dives involving human passengers.
An ongoing international inquiry into the incident is underway, and the Coast Guard has said that a public hearing will take place at a future date.
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