In the most recent press meeting regarding the missing Titan OceanGate submersible, the U.S. Coast Guard shared that debris of the Titan OceanGate submersible was found just 1,600 feet from the Titanic ship. The cause of the implosion of the submersible is yet to be determined, but some suspect it is possible the Titan collided with the bow of the Titanic.
“The debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel. I don’t have an answer for prospects right now.” Said a representative of the U.S. Coast Guard on June 22 at 3 PM, 4 days after the vessel first went missing.
Just 1 hour and 45-minutes post launch on Father’s Day, Sunday June 18, the OceanGate submarine went off the grid and lost contact during it’s underwater expedition to explore the sunken remains of the Titanic. Aid to find the Titan came from the U.S, Britain, Canada, and France.
The vessel went missing over 400 miles off the coasts of Newfoundland and Cape Cod and crews from the U.S. Coast Guard and private search charters including ships with underwater robots had been working around the clock to find the OceanGate submersible.
Who was on board the Titan?
In the most recent updates, new debris has been located near the Titanic wreckage and it is confirmed to be pieces of the Titan. The Titanic was the destination of the trip carrying 5 passnegers, including the OceanGate CEO, the company behind the expedition. Passengers were Captain Stockton Rush, 61-year-old chief executive of OceanGate, 58-year-old British businessman and explorer Hamish Harding; 77-year-old French maritime expert and former Connecticut man nicknamed “Mr.Titanic” Paul-Henri Nargeolet; British-Pakistani billionaire Shahzada Dawood, 48; and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood. Tickets to board OceanGate cost $250,000 each to board the 23,000-pound submarine.
How many OceanGate missions were there before?
This isn’t the first OceanGate Titanic mission to take place. Prior to the 2023 mission, there had been several successful missions. There had been 18 successful submersible missions since 2017 and 2 Titanic missions, one in 2021 and another in 2022. It is still unclear what caused the implosion and what next steps will be taken to recover the remains.