The company OceanGate Expeditions issued a statement confirming the deaths of the five crew members who took part in the expedition to the remains of the Titanic last Sunday. A few minutes later, the US Coast Guard gives a press conference confirmed that the debris found in the middle of the ocean this Thursday is consistent with the ship’s implosion.

A few hours after the start of the journey, last Sunday, June 18, communication with the boat was lost. “We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and her son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding and Paul-Henri Nargeolet“Unfortunately they are lost,” it was revealed that there were no survivors, the company statement said.

The strange bond that unites OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush with the legendary Titanic

The statement described them as true explorers “who shared a distinctive spirit of adventure and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans.”

“This is an extremely sad time for our dedicated employees who are exhausted and deeply saddened by this loss. The entire OceanGate family is immensely grateful to the countless men and women from multiple organizations in the international community who have dedicated a wide range of resources and worked hard to this mission.”

This satellite image from June 22, 2023, courtesy of Maxar Technologies, shows Horizon Arctic (top), Deep Energy (C) and Skandi Vinland on June 22, 2023 searching for the missing Titan submarine, which was later confirmed to have imploded. Photo: AFP

In addition, they were asked to respect the privacy of the families in these painful moments and thanked them for the effort to find them.

This happened hours after announcement by the Rescue teams find a wreck near the Titanic.

“Unified Command experts are evaluating the information,” the Coast Guard said.

The remains were found in the “search area of ​​an ROV, a remote-controlled vehicle, near the Titanic”, although the Coast Guard did not immediately provide further details. At 19:00 GMT, he plans to hold a press conference in Boston, from where this operation, involving several countries, will be directed.

Experts point out that searching for the submarine that was heading for the Titanic is “like going to space” but in total darkness

“The remote-controlled vehicles will still be on site collecting information,” said John Mauger, Commander of the Coast Guard’s 1st District.

Mauger added that they were able to classify part of the submarine’s pressure chamber. Another expert added that five large pieces of wreckage from the ship have been found.

Art school students put the finishing touches to a painting depicting five people aboard a submarine named Titan, which went missing near the wreckage of the Titanic in Mumbai on June 22, 2023. Today it was confirmed that all crew members have died. Photo: INDRANIL MUKHERJEE

“We found the bow cone, then we found a huge piece of debris and we found that the front of the pressure chamber was the very beginning of a catastrophic event. Shortly after we found another debris concentration camp, we found the other half of the pressurized chamber there, actually the whole pressurized unit,” he said.

The commander also said they are in a hostile environment and what was found is consistent with a catastrophic submarine implosion, so there is no perspective on whether the bodies can be recovered.

When would they have died?

About how long the event took place, Mauger said it’s too early to say. because they had just found the remains and they had buoys with hydrophones and no catastrophic event was detected in 72 hours.

“During the search operations, we acted on information that was available to us and as we continue to do deeper analysis, it is again an extremely difficult environment to operate in. there seems to be no connection between the recorded sounds and the location on the seabed.” emphatically.