Debris from the Titan submersible that imploded on the bottom of the Atlantic as it tried to reach the wreckage of the Titanic has been hauled ashore.
The huge chunks of metal were unloaded from the Horizon Arctic ship at the Canadian Coast Guard pier in St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, this morning.
They were quickly covered in large tarpaulins before being lifted by cranes on to lorries that took them away for assessment.
It comes exactly ten days after the doomed Titan submersible vanished during a tourist trip run by OceanGate Expeditions.
Last Thursday it was revealed that the sub had suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion’ near the bottom of the ocean, killing all five on board.
The huge chunks of metal were unloaded from the Horizon Arctic ship at the Canadian Coast Guard pier in St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, this morning
They were quickly covered in large tarpaulins before being lifted by cranes on to lorries that took them away for assessment
Several large pieces of the vessel have been recovered from the ocean, but other sections are believed to have been decimated by the implosion
Experts repeatedly raised safety fears about the submersible, Titan, before the tragedy
Titan went missing on Sunday, June 18 during a mission to the Titanic’s wreckage
The US Coast Guard has launched an investigation into the cause of the underwater implosion that destroyed Titan.
The Coast Guard said it had created a marine board of investigation (MBI), its highest level of probe.
‘My primary goal is to prevent a similar occurrence by making the necessary recommendations to enhance the safety of the maritime domain worldwide,’ said Jason Neubauer, the Coast Guard’s chief investigator and leader of the probe.
‘The MBI is already in its initial evidence-collection phase, including debris salvage operations at the incident site,’ he added.
Neubauer said the US probe could also make recommendations on the possible pursuit of civil or criminal sanctions ‘as necessary’.
Titan was reported missing last Sunday and the Coast Guard said Thursday that all five people aboard the submersible had died after the vessel suffered a catastrophic implosion.
A debris field was found on the seafloor, 1,600 feet (500 meters) from the bow of the Titanic, which sits more than two miles (nearly four kilometers) below the ocean’s surface and 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
Canada, which helped in the search for the submersible, said Saturday it was carrying out its own probe.
The Canadian-flagged Polar Prince cargo vessel towed the Titan out to sea last weekend but lost contact with it about an hour and 45 minutes after the submersible launched into the ocean depths.
The announcement of the implosion ended a multinational search-and-rescue operation that captured the world’s attention since the tourist craft went missing.
Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate, which launched, Titan, perished on board the submersible last Sunday along with his four passengers, including PH Nargeolet (right)
Shahzada Dawood, 48, one of Pakistan’s richest men, who along with his teenage son Suleman Dawood, 19, (together, left) died on the Titan along with British explorer Hamish Harding (right)
Titan’s carbon fiber hull and its acrylic viewport were subject to several warnings and James Cameron singled them out as ‘potential failure points’ on the vessel
British adventurer Hamish Harding and father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood were killed on board the submersible, alongside the American chief executive of the company responsible for the vessel, Stockton Rush, and French national Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
Salvage operations are continuing and investigators have mapped the accident site, Cpt Neubauer said on Sunday. It is unclear how long it will take. The US Coast Guard said it does not charge for search and rescue operations.
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