All five members of the missing Titan submarine are believed to be dead, the company OceanGate said in a statement Thursday.
“We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost,” OceanGate said in a statement. “These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans. Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.”
The vessel, known as the Titan, was created by OceanGate Inc. to transport five people 4,000 meters deep to the site of the Titanic wreck. The submersible went missing on Sunday off the coast of St. John’s, Newfoundland, after its communication systems began failing an hour and 30 minutes after its descent.
At a press conference Thursday afternoon, a Coast Guard spokesperson confirmed that debris discovered near the Titanic wreckage was from the Titan. Five major pieces were found, including a nose cone outside the pressure hull, around 1,600 feet from the submerged Titanic bow.
“The debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber. Upon this determination, we immediately notified the family,” the spokesperson said. “On behalf of the United States Coast Guard, I offer my deepest condolences to the families.” He added that the submarine likely had a “catastrophic implosion” and that it is unlikely that the five bodies will be found due to the “incredibly unforgiving environment” underwater.
The members of the submarine included OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush; British businessman Hamish Harding; British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman; and former French Navy diver Paul-Henry Nargeole. They all embarked on the voyage aboard the submersible Sunday.
“This is an extremely sad time for our dedicated employees who are exhausted and grieving deeply over this loss. The entire OceanGate family is deeply grateful for the countless men and women from multiple organizations of the international community who expedited wide-ranging resources and have worked so very hard on this mission. We appreciate their commitment to finding these five explorers, and their days and nights of tireless work in support of our crew and their families,” OceanGate’s statement continued. “This is a very sad time for the entire explorer community, and for each of the family members of those lost at sea. We respectfully ask that the privacy of these families be respected during this most painful time.”
The U.S. Coast Guard led a 10,000-square-mile search to locate the submersible but were met with no findings besides the pieces of debris. Search teams scoured the surface of the ocean and the seabed in hopes of finding the vessel. An underwater search was led by a remote-operated vehicle. Its mother vessel, the Polar Prince tugboat, was also utilized throughout search and rescue efforts.
At a cost of $250,000 per ticket, OceanGate debuted the Titan in 2019. Per the company’s website, its lucrative Titanic Expedition aims to “conduct scientific and technological survey of the wreck.”
