The first expedition to the Titanic wreck since last summer’s Titan submersible disaster has arrived “safely” at the site.
RMS Titanic Inc, which owns exclusive salvage rights to the wreck , is conducting its first expedition in 14 years and plans to document the site in never-before-seen 3D detail.
The company also plans to identify objects for potential recovery, including the Marconi wireless system, which was key to saving the lives of over 700 people after the ship struck an iceberg that fateful night in 1912.
Announcing their arrival on Twitter/X, the company wrote: “We are pleased to announce that Titanic Expedition 2024 has arrived safely, two and a half miles above the Titanic’s final resting place.
“The Dino Chouest [ship] entered the Titanic coordinates today around 7:30 pm local time. The expedition leaders report all personnel are well.
“Our mapping and imaging studies will begin right away.”
RMS Titanic Inc explained ahead of the mission that it will take place over the course of 20 days and will be carried out by remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and not manned submersibles.
“We aren’t using manned submersibles this time around, so thankfully we don’t have to worry about that, just the cabin fever of being stuck on the ship,” the company wrote on Reddit head of the trip.
A service is set to be held aboard the mothership for those who died in both the Titanic sinking and the Titan submersible disaster.
As well as this, a plaque will be laid on the ocean floor in honour of Paul Henri Nargeolet, 77, the director of RMS Titanic Inc, who lost his life in the OceanGate tragedy.
He is credited with the recovery of countless objects from the wreck, which were brought to the surface to preserve the legacy of the sinking for future generations.
This month’s expedition comes just over a year since the Titan submersible disaster claimed the lives of five men.
The Titanic tourist sub, as it was also known, suffered a “catastrophic implosion” around an hour and 45 minutes into its dive to the wreck site on 18 June, 2023.
What followed was an international search and rescue mission to locate the submersible, named Titan, before its limited oxygen supply ran out.
But the search came to an end when debris from the sub were discovered near the bow of the Titanic shortly after its oxygen supply would have ran out.
The company behind the disaster OceanGate – which charged “citizen explorers” $250,000 a head to see the world’s most famous shipwreck – subsequently suspended all operations.
The US Coast Guard confirmed last month that the investigation into the disaster is taking longer than expected.
It is speculated that the submersible imploded as a result of its controversial carbon fibre hull, which slowly weakened on repeat dives to the wreck, culminating in the explosion last June.
As well as claiming the life of Nargeolet, OceanGate co-CEO Stockton Rush, 61, British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, 58, Pakistani billionaire businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48 and his 19-year-old student son, Solomon Dawood, all died in the disaster.
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