(NewsNation) — It could take months to pinpoint what led to the catastrophic failure that officials say killed five people aboard an OceanGate submersible that was en route to visit the Titanic, a former Navy captain told NewsNation.
Attempts to reconstruct the sub will require remotely operating vehicles with grappling hooks and other tools to fish for pieces of the sub located two miles underwater, retired United States Navy Capt. William Toti said.
Retrieving the debris alone is fit to be a “slow and tedious” process, he said.
“It’s going to require some material analysis,” Toti said. “It’s going to require recovery of the debris and that will take in my estimation a period of months before people understand what happened to everybody’s satisfaction.”
The United State Coast Guard said Thursday the passengers on board the submersible Titan are believed to be dead — a fate they likely met quickly, Toti said.
Aboard the Titan were British businessman Hamish Harding, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, and pilot and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
“They were killed instantly,” Toti said. “If you can take any comfort from that, that’s the best we can hope for at this point.”