The Coast Guard has potentially recovered the remains of the five passengers who died aboard the Titan submersible after it imploded while attempting to visit the wreck of RMS Titanic.
The Coast Guard on Wednesday took possession of debris and evidence from the seafloor belonging to Titan after M/V Horizon Arctic, the ship that deployed a remotely operated vehicle that found pieces of the submersible, arrived in St. Johns, Newfoundland, according to a news release from the Coast Guard.
Horizon Arctic‘s ROV was able to recover pieces of Titan, including its tail cone, which allowed the Coast Guard to conclude that the submersible likely imploded. The Navy’s underwater detection systems also picked up a noise that was likely the Titan implosion.
The debris will go to a United States port, which was not named in the release. The Maritime Board of Investigation, which opened a probe into the Titan fatality, will do further analysis on the collected evidence. The investigation is ongoing.
Medical professionals will also examine potential human remains that were found.
“The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of this tragedy. There is still a substantial amount of work to be done to understand the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the TITAN and help ensure a similar tragedy does not occur again,” Capt. Jason Neubauer, who is leading the investigation for the MBI, said in the release.
Canada also opened an investigation into Titan, as well as Polar Prince, the ship from which the submersible launched, USNI News previously reported. There have been no public updates to the investigation.
