More Debris and Presumed Remains Recovered From Titan Submersible

More debris and presumed human remains have been recovered from the Titan submersible, the U.S. Coast Guard said, months after the vessel imploded, killing five people as they were descending into the deep to view the wreckage of the Titanic.

The Coast Guard said in a statement Tuesday that engineers with its Marine Board of Investigation recovered debris and evidence from the floor of the North Atlantic Ocean during a salvage mission last week. The statement was accompanied by a photo that showed the intact aft titanium end cap of the 22-foot vessel.

The debris was taken to a port in the United States to be analyzed, while the presumed human remains “were carefully recovered from within Titan’s debris and transported for analysis by U.S. medical professionals,” the Coast Guard said. The agency did not identify the port where the debris was being analyzed.

Investigators have been analyzing and testing material retrieved from the Titan since late June, nearly two weeks after the Titan imploded. They will continue to examine the new evidence and interview witnesses to prepare for a public hearing, the Coast Guard said.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada joined the recovery expedition as part of their investigations into the cause of the implosion.

On the morning of June 18, the Titan descended into the deep with five people on board to view the wreckage of the Titanic. It was scheduled to return in the afternoon to a Canadian research vessel, the Polar Prince, that was providing surface support about 900 nautical miles east of Cape Cod, in Massachusetts.

About 1 hour and 45 minutes after the Titan plunged below the surface, the Polar Prince lost contact with it and notified the Coast Guard. An international search-and-rescue operation began, and was followed by a recovery mission.

On June 22, the Coast Guard said the Titan’s tail cone and other debris had been found on the ocean floor, about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic. The authorities said in late June that presumed human remains and the debris, including the hull and siding, had been retrieved by a vessel that had deployed a remotely operated vehicle to search the ocean floor.

The victims included Stockton Rush, the founder of OceanGate Expeditions, the company based in Everett, Washington, that operated the submersible. Rush, who was piloting the Titan, charged up to $250,000 per passenger to visit the wreckage of the Titanic, which sank in 1912.

Also onboard were Hamish Harding, a British aviation tycoon and explorer; Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, a father and son from a prominent Pakistani family; and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French maritime expert.

Experts in the submersible craft industry have said that OceanGate ignored the risks of failing to certify the submersible with a regulatory agency. The company has since said it has “suspended all exploration and commercial operations.”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/11/world/europe/titan-submersible-debris-human-remains.html">The New York Times</a>.