The U.S. Coast Guard recovered additional debris, including human remains, from the Titan submersible that imploded underwater with five passengers aboard in June.
The 23,000-pound vessel, owned by OceanGate Expeditions, was traveling to the site of the Titanic wreckage when it lost contact with its mother ship about an hour and 45 minutes into its dive. Exhaustive search efforts led rescuers on a days-long journey until debris was discovered — which led to the determination that an implosion occurred.
In a salvage mission, which was a follow-up to initial recovery operations, remaining debris was recovered from the North Atlantic Ocean seafloor on Oct. 4, the Coast Guard said.
“The recovered evidence was successfully transferred to a U.S. port for cataloging and analysis. Additional presumed human remains were carefully recovered from within Titan’s debris and transported for analysis by U.S. medical professionals,” said the Coast Guard in a press release.
The Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and other investigative agencies will schedule a joint evidence review for the recovered Titan debris, which will help determine next steps for necessary forensic testing.
MBI will continue analyzing evidence and interviewing witnesses ahead of a public hearing.
The five passengers killed aboard the Titan were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, businessman and pilot Hamish Harding, submariner Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and billionaire Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood.
The science that put the Titan submersible at risk of implosion
Experts say based on the available evidence, the implosion happened very quickly.
