2023-06-29 01:41:15
The US Coast Guard says it likely recovered human remains from the wreckage of the Titan submersible and is bringing the evidence back to the United States. The submersible imploded last week, killing all five people on board as they set out to observe the wreckage of the Titanic.
The wreckage of the Titan submersible was brought ashore on Wednesday. Their return to the port of Saint-Jean, Newfoundland and Labrador, is a key element of the investigation into the reasons for the implosion of the submersible.
In a statement late Wednesday, the US Coast Guard said it had recovered debris and evidence from the seabed, including what it described as suspected human remains.
“I am grateful for the coordinated international and interagency support to recover and preserve this vital evidence at extreme distances and depths,” Captain Jason Neubauer, Chief of the U.S. Coast Guard, said in a statement.
“These elements will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with essential information on the causes of this tragedy. Much more needs to be done to understand the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the Titan and to ensure that such a tragedy does not happen again.”
The wreckage of the small Titan submersible was brought back to Newfoundland aboard a Canadian-flagged ship that had helped search for the submarine that imploded ten days ago at the bottom of the North Atlantic.
The “Horizon Arctic” docked at the port of Saint-Jean with a remote-controlled vehicle on board that had searched the ocean floor about 700 kilometers south of the island of Newfoundland.
The owner of the remotely operated submersible, ‘Pelagic Research Services’, says his team has successfully completed their underwater operations and are now unloading their gear from the ‘Horizon Arctic’.
“They have been working around the clock for 10 days now, through physical and psychological challenges, and they are eager to complete the mission and return to their loved ones,” the company said in an email.
Photos taken on the dock show what appear to be several parts of the submersible being hoisted from the ship, including the nose cone with its distinctive circular porthole.
The Titan imploded on June 18 during its descent to the wreckage of the Titanic, nearly four kilometers below the surface of the sea, killing all five passengers and crew.
The US Coast Guard declared them dead four days later, on June 22, after the remote-controlled submersible spotted the wreckage of the Titan about 500 yards from the bow of the transatlantic liner that sank in 1912.
Stockton Rush, CEO of the company that owns the Titan, OceanGate, piloted the small submersible, which carried four passengers: British billionaire Hamish Harding, French explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet, and ship’s man. Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, who was bringing his 19-year-old son, Suleman.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) released an update Wednesday evening, saying its investigators have completed preliminary interviews with those aboard the support vessel Polar Prince, which was the support vessel for the Titan and who helped launch the submersible on its fatal dive.
The vessel’s voyage data recorder was sent to the TSB Engineering Laboratory in Ottawa for further examination,
The TSB said it has inspected, documented and cataloged materials from the wreckage of the Titan and that these materials are now in the possession of the US Coast Guard.
The US Coast Guard, which is leading the international investigation, did not immediately say who would examine the debris brought ashore on Wednesday.
Horizon Maritime, owner of the Canadian vessel “Horizon Arctic,” also declined to comment. This company also owns the “Polar Prince”, mothership of the Titan.
The Pelagic company indicated for its part that the members of its team were not able to provide information relating to the ongoing investigation, due to “confidentiality and the duty of non-disclosure”.
With information from The Associated Press in Portland, Maine.
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