The latest on the Titan submersible tragedy and what’s next in the search for the victims

Associated Press

Updated: Jun 22, 2023 / 05:11 PM CDT

FILE – This undated photo provided by OceanGate Expeditions in June 2021 shows the company’s Titan submersible. On Monday, June 19, 2023, a rescue operation was underway deep in the Atlantic Ocean in search of the technologically advanced submersible vessel carrying five people to document the wreckage of the Titanic, the iconic ocean liner that sank more than a century earlier. (OceanGate Expeditions via AP, File)

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The desperate search to find the missing Titan submersible turned into a recovery effort Thursday after officials announced that the vessel imploded sometime this week, killing all five aboard, near the Titanic shipwreck.

Deep-sea robots will continue to search the sea floor for clues about what happened deep in the North Atlantic. The pilot and four passengers died in the catastrophic implosion.

The Titan, owned by undersea exploration company OceanGate Expeditions, had been chronicling the Titanic’s decay and the underwater ecosystem around the sunken ocean liner in yearly voyages since 2021.

Many questions about what occurred underwater remain: When and why did the implosion occur? Will the victims’ bodies ever be found? How could this tragedy have been prevented?

Here’s what we do know so far:

WHEN AND WHERE DID THE TITAN GO MISSING?

The craft submerged Sunday morning, and its support vessel lost contact with it about an hour and 45 minutes later, according to the Coast Guard.

The vessel was reported overdue about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland, according to Canada’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The Titan was launched from an icebreaker that was hired by OceanGate and formerly operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. The ship has ferried dozens of people and the submersible craft to the North Atlantic wreck site, where the Titan has made multiple dives.

WHAT HAPPENED ABOARD THE TITAN?

The vessel suffered a catastrophic implosion, killing all five aboard, sometime this week after it submerged Sunday morning. It’s not clear exactly when or where the implosion occurred.

The Coast Guard announced that debris from the submersible had been found and the end of rescue efforts Thursday, bringing a tragic close to a saga that included an urgent around-the-clock search and a worldwide vigil for the missing vessel.

“The debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber,” Rear Adm. John Mauger, of the First Coast Guard District, said in a news conference Thursday.

A deep-sea robot discovered the debris, near the Titanic shipwreck, that authorities say came from the submersible.

WHAT’S NEXT AND WHO WAS KILLED?

The Coast Guard will continue searching near the Titanic for more clues about what happened to the Titan.

Efforts to recover the submersible and the remains of the five men who were on board will also continue.

The victims are: Oceangate chief executive and Titan pilot Stockton Rush; two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood; British adventurer Hamish Harding; and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” OceanGate said in a statement. “We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.”