Search for answers: Investigators continue to scour the ocean floor for debris as they try to establish the timeline and circumstances of the Titan’s fatal final voyage.
Catastrophic implosion: The Titanic-bound submersible suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” killing all five people on board, the US Coast Guard said Thursday. A remotely operated vehicle found parts of the sub about 1,600 feet from the bow of the shipwreck, officials said.
“Deeply saddened”: Tributes are pouring in for Hamish Harding, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, and Stockton Rush, the CEO of the tour organizer, OceanGate Expeditions, who all died in the craft.
About the trip: The submersible was descending to explore the wreckage of the luxury liner, located 900 miles east of Cape Cod at 13,000 feet below sea level.
Our live coverage has ended. Follow the latest news here or read through the updates below.
34 Posts
US Coast Guard will lead investigation into Titan submersible incident, NTSB says
The US Coast Guard will lead the investigation into the Titan submersible incident, the National Transportation Safety Board tweeted Friday evening.
CNN reported earlier Friday that the Transportation Safety Board of Canada is launching an investigation into the implosion of the Titan.
CNN has reached out to that agency to see how and if they will be working with officials in the United States on this investigation.
Link Copied!
"That could’ve been us": Father and son gave up seats on Titan submersible weeks before implosion
From CNN’s Sara Smart
Sean and Jay Bloom appear on CNN on Friday, June 23.
CNN
A father and son gave up their seats on the Titan submersible just weeks before the fatal implosion after they had safety concerns about the craft.
Jay Bloom and his son Sean said they were both worried about the submersible and its ability to travel deep into the ocean ahead of the planned voyage. Their seats ultimately went to the father and son who were onboard when the vessel imploded, Shahzada and Suleman Dawood.
Sean said he told his father he didn’t think the vessel would successfully make it that deep into the ocean.
Jay shared a text message exchange between him and Rush — the CEO of the vessel’s operator, OceanGate Expeditions — where Rush offered the spots on the vessel for the May expedition.
Rush then flew out to Las Vegas in March to try and get Jay to buy the tickets. Jay noted that Rush flew in on a two-seater experimental plane he built.
Both Jay and Sean said Rush brushed off questions and concerns they had with the submersible.
The father and son duo said they will not try to do something like this experience ever again after they watched the news.
“All I could see when I saw that father and son was myself and my son.That could’ve been us,” Jay said.
Link Copied!
For decades, US has operated network of underwater listening devices used to detect Titan sub implosion
From CNN's Oren Liebermann
The Navy system that picked up a sound resembling an implosion on Sunday is part of an array of underwater listening devices that the US has had in place for decades. Primarily designed to track the movement of enemy submarines, the system has also helped in the searches and investigative efforts of incidents at sea, some very similar to the implosion suffered by the Titan submersible.
Initially called the Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) when it was first created in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the array of sensors detects different sounds and acoustic signatures, which can travel great distances underwater. The system was renamed the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS) when the Navy added mobile and deployable sensors to its collection capabilities.
Because sound travels so well underwater, the sensors can be used to triangulate the position of an enemy submarine or an underwater noise picked up by the array.
Though the system itself is not classified, according to a Navy official, its operation and collection capabilities are secret.
In 1968, the Navy used the system to pinpoint the location of a missing Soviet submarine, K-129, in the North Pacific. The US noticed increased Soviet naval activity and concluded they may be searching for a submarine. In reviewing the data collected by the system, the US picked up on the acoustic signature of an implosion and were able to pinpoint the location of the noise, far away from the Soviet search efforts.
In the mid-1970s, the US would attempt to raise the ballistic missile submarine from the ocean floor using a cover story that involved eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes and a project to harvest minerals off the sea floor.
The mission was partially successful, and it began with the detection of the implosion by the same type of array that picked up on the implosion of the Titan submersible.
The listening array also helped in the search for two missing US nuclear submarines in the 1960s, the USS Thresher and USS Scorpion.
Link Copied!
Navy will remove deep ocean salvage system from St. John’s, official says
From CNN's Oren Liebermann
The Navy is removing a deep ocean salvage system from St. John’s, Newfoundland, according to a defense official familiar with the matter. The move comes as fewer ships and assets are needed in the ongoing efforts around the Titan submersible search.
The removal of the system means the Navy will no longer have vessels or equipment as part of the recovery effort, the official said, though Navy personnel are still assisting. The Navy sent subject matter experts in conjunction with the salvage system.
The Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System (FADOSS) was brought into the search effort to assist with the recovery or salvage of the vessel once it was located. The system arrived in St. John’s Wednesday, but it remained there as other vessels with remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) closed in on the search site and ultimately found the debris of the missing submersible.
Because of the smaller size of the debris from the submersible, it’s possible an ROV could recover pieces of the vessel if needed for further evaluation, the official said. The FADOSS system is designed to lift far larger and heavier objects out of the water.
The salvage system is capable of lifting up to 60,000 pounds off the bottom of the ocean floor to a depth of 20,000 feet. It is primarily used to recover aircraft from the ocean or other heavy objects. It was most recently used last summer to pull an F/A-18 fighter jet from the Mediterranean Sea, according to the Navy.
Link Copied!
Marine certification company says it declined request to certify doomed Titan vessel
From CNN's Gabe Cohen
A company that certifies marine vessels says it “declined a request” from OceanGate Expeditions to certify Titan, the submersible that imploded near the site of the Titanic wreckage, killing all five people on board.
The interaction came months after OceanGate had defended a decision not to certify Titan in a blog post.
Lloyd’s Register, a marine certification company, did not say why it declined to work with OceanGate on what is typically a lengthy, expensive process to certify a vessel.
The two companies came together in 2019 for Titan’s first depth dive. At the time, OceanGate put out a press release saying the dive “was validated by a representative from Lloyd’s Register.” While it invoked the name of the certification agency, OceanGate did not say the submersible had been certified, just that the dive itself had been verified.
OceanGate was touting having taken Titan to a depth of 3,760 meters (about 12,300 feet) near the Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas, according to the release. Titan, it said, was the only vehicle that could both hold five people and dive to that depth.
In a statement to CNN, Lloyd’s Register did not dispute any of the details of the dive but said that that initial meeting did not lead to an agreement to go into the certification process.
In 2018, industry experts urged OceanGate to certify Titan to ensure its safety, saying failure to do so could be catastrophic. Will Kohnen, who wrote a letter and spoke with OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush about his concerns, told CNN, “There are 10 submarines in the world that can go 12,000 feet and deeper. All of them are certified except the OceanGate submersible.”
The 2019 dive came two months after OceanGate put up a blog post defending its decision not to certify Titan, arguing it could take years, stifle innovation and “by itself, classing is not sufficient to ensure safety.” The timing shows that the company may have still been considering certification even after defending its decision not to certify.
CNN has reached out to OceanGate for comment.
Link Copied!
While OceanGate touted safety, experts says some design materials were "already large red flags"
From CNN's Isabelle Chapman and Curt Devine
A trailer and other equipment are seen at OceanGate's headquarters in Everett, Washington, on June 22.
Jason Redmon/AFP/Getty Images
A CNN review of OceanGate’s marketing material, public statements made by CEO Stockton Rush and court records show that even as the company touted a commitment to safety measures, it rejected industry standards that would have imposed greater scrutiny on its operations and vessels.
The company also boasted of collaborations with reputable institutions that have since denied partnering with OceanGate on the submersible in question.
Some industry experts said OceanGate’s operations were known to be risky.
OceanGate declined to comment on its safety record.
To the public, OceanGate’s marketing sought to appeal to potential customers’ sense of adventure while also assuring them the adventure was safe. They featured scientists or explorers praising the company’s innovations. One flashy promotional video, published last year, opens with a voiceover boasting an unforgettable — but safe — voyage: “OceanGate Expeditions offers you the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a specially trained crew member safely diving to the Titanic wreckage site.”
That video also features explorer Paul Henri-Nargeolet, who was among those who died this week, praising the design of the doomed vessel.
“The sub, for me, it’s very well done because it’s simple,” Nargeolet said. “Usually they have a lot of equipment and a lot of switches, and on this one you don’t have because you work with a screen and a keyboard and it’s very easy to do that.”
That simplicity was highlighted late last year when Rush invited CBS News reporter David Pogue on a voyage, in which Rush admitted that he bought parts for his craft off-the-shelf at stores such as Camping World.
In online videos, Rush explained the Titan’s unconventional design, which he said included carbon fiber to increase the vessel’s buoyancy. It “hasn’t been used in a crewed submersible ever before,” he said in a video last year.
The Titan also included an “unparalleled safety feature” that monitored the integrity of the vessel’s hull during each dive, according to OceanGate’s website. A 2021 press release highlighted its “multiple, redundant safety systems.”
Operator of France’s oceanographic fleet pays tribute to "insatiable" ocean explorer killed in sub implosion
From CNN’s Saskya Vandoorne in Paris and Niamh Kennedy in London
Paul-Henri Nargeolet stands at a Titanic exhibition in Paris in May 2013.
Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images
The operator of France’s oceanographic fleet honored Paul-Henri Nargeolet, one of five passengers killed in the catastrophic submersible implosion, commending him as an accomplished leader and Titanic expert.
Nargeolet spent 10 years at Genavir, carrying out deep-sea sub explorations. After joining in 1986, he carried out his first dive of the Titanic wreck one year later, according to the statement.
Over the course of his time there, Nargeolet completed 39 dives on board the Nautilesubmersible, 20 of which were on the Titanic, according to the statement.
Nargeolet left the operator in 1996 to “dedicate himself entirely to the exploration of the Titanic and the recuperation of hundreds of thousands of objects,” carrying out two further dives in 1996 and 1998, according to the statement.
Link Copied!
Canadian Transportation Safety Board launches investigation into submersible implosion
From CNN's Aaron Cooper
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is launching an investigation into the implosion of the Titan submersible, the agency announced Friday.
The agency is sending a team to St. John’s in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador to conduct the investigation.
About the implosion: Five people on board the Titanic-bound vessel were killed when it suffered a “catastrophic implosion.”
It’s unclear where or how deep the Titan was when the implosion occurred, but the Titanic wreck sits nearly 13,000 feet (or almost 4,000 meters) below sea level. The submersible was about 1 hour and 45 minutes into the roughly two-hour descent when it lost contact.
Link Copied!
First on CNN: New mission to sub debris site is underway, ocean services company confirms
From CNN's Paul P. Murphy
Pelagic's remotely operated vehicle Odysseus 6 is lifted out of the ocean after searching for debris from the Titan submersible on June 22.
Pelagic Research Services
A spokesperson for Pelagic Research Services told CNN that a new mission to the submersible debris site near the wreckage of the Titanic is underway.
The spokesperson, Jeff Mahoney, said that this mission of the Odysseus 6 remotely operated vehicle is to continue searching and mapping out the debris sites.
The ROV’s mission began late Friday morning and will take about an hour to get down to the location of the debris field.
This is the second mission of the Odysseus 6 ROV, the first having discovered the debris field that contained remnants of the Titan submersible.
Any attempts to recover anything from the debris field will be a larger operation, Mahoney said, because the Titan sub debris will likely be too heavy for Pelagic’s ROV to lift by itself. Mahoney said any recovery mission will be made in tandem with Deep Energy, another company assisting with the mission, which will use rigged cabling to pull up any debris.
Mahoney said they expect to be on site conducting ROV missions for another week.
Link Copied!
The crew of the Titan was killed in a "catastrophic implosion." Here's what that means
From CNN's Jessie Yeung
Flowers for the crew of the Titan are seen at the port of St John's in Newfoundland, Canada, on Friday.
Jordan Pettitt/PA Images/Getty Images
What was supposed to be a 10-hour journey to the Titanic shipwreck ended in tragedy, with all five passengers on the missing submersible killed in a catastrophic implosion. Their deaths were confirmed Thursday, concluding a week-long search for survivors that was closely watched around the world.
It’s unclear where or how deep the Titan was when the implosion occurred, but the Titanic wreck sits nearly 13,000 feet (or almost 4,000 meters) below sea level. The submersible was about 1 hour and 45 minutes into the roughly two-hour descent when it lost contact.
At the depth the Titanic rests, there is around 5,600 pounds per square inch of pressure – several hundred times the pressure we experience on the surface, according to Rick Murcar, the international training director at the National Association of Cave Diving.
A catastrophic implosion is “incredibly quick,” taking place within just a fraction of a millisecond, said Aileen Maria Marty, a former Naval officer and professor at Florida International University.
Experts say it is unlikely any bodies will be recovered.
Link Copied!
Chair of submersibles committee says he voiced concerns about OceanGate design and claims with CEO
From CNN's Kristina Sgueglia
An undated photo of the OceanGate Titan submersible.
From OceanGate/File
The design of the Titan submersible “demanded special extra attention,” according to William Kohnen, chair of the Marine Technology Society’smanned underwater vehicles committee, adding that he had conversations with the late OceanGate CEO to express his concerns about the company’s approach to submersibles.
Kohnen, who is also president of the Hydrospace Group, said he made requests to OceanGate to make its website more transparent to spell out that the Titan design was “experimental” and “not certified.” They ultimately changed it, he said.
Speaking to Anderson Cooper on “CNN This Morning,” Kohnen said the carbon fiber hull “demanded special extra attention just because that had never been done before.” It meant an “additional effort and probably quite a bit of extra testing to get passed through that certification process,” he said.
The small community of submersible experts had numerous conversations with the late OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, Kohnen said, and they issued a letter essentially saying, “you are going really, really fast over here and you’re ignoring some of the knowledge base that we have for these things.”
Kohnen said Rush’s response amounted to “the existing regulations are stifling innovation and it’s too slow, and we have a better method.”
He called for full disclosure in the industry. “Just tell the public this is not certified, this is experimental, and then it leaves some of the decisions to people to make,” he added.
CNN’s Nic Anderson contributed to this post.
Link Copied!
Deep-sea tourism should pause, says scientist who survived a Titanic submersible scare in 2000
Dr. Michael Guillen, a scientist, journalist and author who was the first TV correspondent to report from the Titanic, said he thinks ocean tourism needs to be paused following the deaths of the five people aboard the Titan submersible.
Guillen survived a close call in 2000, when he says the submersible he was in got caught in an underwater current, causing a collision with the propeller of the Titanic wreck.
He said there are two main reasons for taking a pause, based on his experience.
“Second of all, what I took away from my trip down there was that this isn’t just a shipwreck. I went down there thinking I’m just going to report on a shipwreck, but what hit me — especially in that moment of prayer, and it came home to me — that people lost their lives. Men, women and children. More than 1,000 of them. This is their final resting place. This is sacred ground,” he said.
“I think we should pause, figure out what happened so we can fix it in the future, but also think of the danger and think of the sacredness of this site. It’s not a joyride. It’s not a Disneyland destination,” he added.
Link Copied!
Here's a map of the area where the Titanic-bound sub went missing
The Titan submersible that went missing Sunday during a trip to view the wreckage of the Titanic suffered a “catastrophic implosion” and killed five people on board, officials said Thursday.
The submersible had originally embarked on a journey into the depths of the sea off Canada’s coast.
Titan’s ultimate destination was the Titanic’s wreckage, which sits at the bottom of the ocean nearly 13,000 feet below the surface southeast of Newfoundland.
As authorities now seek to better understand what went wrong with the sub, they’re dealing with an “incredibly complex operating environment on the sea floor, over two miles beneath the surface,” a US Coast Guard official said Thursday.
Here’s a look at a map of the area:
Link Copied!
Nargeolet will be remembered for his deep connection with people and underwater exploration, stepson says
From Zenebou Sylla
Paul-Henri Nargeolet poses next to a miniature version of the Titanic in Paris in 2013.
Joël Saget/AFP/Getty Images
Explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, who was aboard the Titanic-bound submarine that imploded, will be remembered for his passion for his family and underwater exploration, his stepson John Paschall told CNN.
Paschall said Nargeolet was “someone that you instantly connected with and loved, and shared so many great stories with,” and his fascination with the underwater expedition of the Titanic intrigued him to share the stories of the past with people.
Paschall said Nargeolet was a “big loveable guy who [was] a prankster, but he cared so much about his family and everything he did in life.”
Paschall said he was fortunate to have Nargeolet as a stepfather and even celebrated special moments together: Nargeolet and his mother, who died of cancer, once drove 16 hours overnight from Chicago to New York to watch him graduate.
He last saw Nargeolet in May and planned to meet with his stepfather in early July to connect. He said he didn’t think twice when Nargeolet set out on one of many expeditions, where he would later lose his life.
Link Copied!
Officials are working to establish a timeline for the submersible's fatal voyage. Catch up on the latest
On Thursday, authorities said the five passengers on the sub that was diving 13,000 feet to view the wreckage of the Titanic on the ocean floor died in a “catastrophic implosion,” bookending an extraordinary five-day international search operation.
Here’s what we know:
The Polar Prince will return to port: The vessel used to transport the Titan submersible to the site of the Titanic wreckage, will return to St. John’s, Canada, either late Friday or early Saturday morning, a source with Horizon Maritime, the company that owns the ship, told CNN. Marine traffic-tracking sites show a line of several other ships also headed back to St. John’s this morning.
Immediate next steps: As officials work to determine the timeline and circumstances of the accident, remotely operated vehicles will remain on the scene and continue to gather information from the sea floor, US Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger said Thursday. They will map out the vessel’s debris field, which is more than 2 miles deep in the North Atlantic Ocean, Mauger said. It will take time to determine a specific timeline of events in the “incredibly complex” case of the Titan’s failure, he added. The Coast Guard official said the agency will eventually have more information about what went wrong and its assessment of the emergency response.
What is a catastrophic explosion? An underwater implosion refers to the sudden inward collapse of the vessel. At those depths there is a tremendous amount of pressure on the submersible and even the tiniest structural defect could be disastrous, experts said. At the depths of the Titanic wreck, the implosion would have happened in a fraction of a millisecond. Former naval officer Aileen Marty said the implosion would have happened before anyone “inside would even realize that there was a problem.”
Discovered debris: The remotely operated vehicle found “five different major pieces of debris” from the Titan submersible, according to Paul Hankins, the US Navy’s director of salvage operations and ocean engineering. The debris was “consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber” and, in turn, a “catastrophic implosion,” he said. As of now, there does not appear to be a connection between the banging noises picked up by sonar earlier this week and where the debris was found. So far, they have located the Titan’s nose cone and one end of its pressure hulls in a large debris field, and the other end of the pressure hull in a second, smaller debris field.
Timing: The US Navy detected an acoustic signature consistent with an implosion on Sunday and relayed that information to the commanders leading the search effort, a senior official told CNN. But the sound was determined to be “not definitive,” the official said. Mauger said rescuers had sonar buoys in the water for at least the last 72 hours and had “not detected any catastrophic events.” Listening devices set up during the search also did not record any sign of an implosion, he added.
Who was on board: Tour organizer OceanGate Expeditions said Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Paul-Henri Nargeolet and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush died in the sub. They “shared a distinct spirit of adventure,” the company said in a statement.
Reactions: French diver Nargeolet was an “incredibly talented iconic legendary – the greatest deep diver that the world has ever known,” his friend Alfred Hagen told CNN as he recalled a previous trip on which he descended with Nargeolet in the Titan sub to the Titanic wreckage. Engro Corporation Limited, of which Shahzada Dawood was vice chairman, said the company grieves the loss of him and his son. The British Asian Trust said Friday it is “deeply saddened” by the death of its trustee Shahzada Dawood and his son. The governments of Pakistan and the United Kingdom also offered condolences. The University of Strathclyde, in Glasgow, Scotland, said it is “profoundly saddened” by the death of its student Suleman Dawood.
Similarities with famous shipwreck: James Cameron, who directed the hit 1997 movie “Titanic” and has himself made 33 dives to the wreckage, said he’s worried the Titan submersible’s implosion will have a negative impact on citizen explorers. He also said he saw “a parallel” with the Titanic due to “unheeded warnings about a sub that was not certified.”
Link Copied!
The ship that helped launch the Titan submersible will return to port later tonight or tomorrow
From CNN's Miguel Marquez and Aaron Cooper
The Polar Prince, a vessel used to transport the Titan submersible to the site of the Titanic wreckage, is departing the area today.
It will return to St. John’s, Canada, either late Friday or early Saturday morning, a source with Horizon Maritime, the company that owns the ship, told CNN.
Marine traffic-tracking sites show a line of several other ships also headed back to St. John’s this morning.
Link Copied!
UK prime minister Rishi Sunak's thoughts are with loved ones of those killed on Titan sub, spokesperson says
From CNN's Sharon Braithwaite in London
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks at a conference in London on June 21.
Henry Nicholls/WPA Pool/Getty Images
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s thoughts are “very much” with the loved ones of those that perished on the Titan submersible, his spokesperson said Friday, according to the UK Press Association.
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on Thursday expressed his condolences and said the UK government is closely supporting the families of the British citizens who died on board the Titan submersible.
Three British citizens were onboard: Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman.
Link Copied!
OceanGate co-founder cautions rushing to judgment over catastrophic loss of submersible
From CNN's Kristine Sgueglia
OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein cautioned rushing to judgment without the data following the catastrophic loss of the submersible.
Sohnlein left the company in 2013 and was not involved with the voyage or the development of the Titan submersible. He still maintains minority ownership of OceanGate.
He added, “safety was the number one priority” for himself and CEO Stockton Rush who perished along with four others on board.
“He was a very strong risk manager, and I believe that he believed that every innovation that he created — whether technologically or within the dive operations — was to both expand the capability of humanity exploring the oceans while also improving the safety of those doing it,” he said.
Link Copied!
Friend of Nargeolet mourns loss and recalls previous dive trip to the Titanic with explorer
From CNN's Kristina Sgueglia
Paul-Henri Nargeolet, director of a deep ocean research project dedicated to the Titanic, poses inside the new exhibition dedicated to the sunken ship, at 'Paris Expo', on May 31, 2013, in Paris, France.
Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images
A friend of Paul Henri Nargeolet, who was aboard the Titan submersible that imploded over the weekend, described the explorer as an “incredibly talented iconic legendary – the greatest deep diver that the world has ever known.”
Speaking to Anderson Cooper on CNN This Morning on Friday, Alfred Hagen recalled a previous trip on which he descended with Nargeolet in the Titan sub to the Titanic wreckage.
When descending, Hagen said the vessel is essentially in a “free fall” and when it reached the bottom, crewmembers had to “find the Titanic,” the bow and stern of which he describes are a “considerable distance apart.”
It was a “world of perpetual midnight, and then suddenly if you’re lucky you see the ship appear out of the darkness,” he added.
“I don’t regret going, I do regret that I won’t be able to go again with PH.”
When they reached the bottom, he said, “PH would take over flying.”
“As far as the safety concerns, of course you were concerned, we all understood the risk we were taking.”
“There was a moment when the current kind of pushed us in closer than we intended and we got stuck and PH was able to maneuver us out and of course at that moment the thought flashes through your mind of – if we don’t get loose this could be it, but I was – that’s a risk that you accept,” Hagen said.
“And I’m tired of people coming in now to insult the high achievers and disparage wealthy people that want to break trail for the rest of humanity.
“These are risk takers, risk takers have always driven humanity forward and taking risk is what distinguishes us as men, and it’s the divine spark.”
As for Nargeolet, Hagen fondly recalled him being “equally at ease on the deck of a ship in a hurricane or sitting conversing in a Parisian café.”
Hagen said the loss of his friend had “broken my heart that a man of his dynamism will no longer shine his light in this world.”
Link Copied!
What it was like inside the lost Titanic-touring submersible
From CNN's Emma Tucker
Authorities have said the Titanic-touring submersible that went missing on Sunday suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” killing all five people on board while descending to explore the wreckage of the famous ship.
The tail cone and other debris from the missing submersible were found by a remotely operated vehicle about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic, which rests about 13,000 feet deep in the North Atlantic Ocean, the US Coast Guard announced on Thursday.
The submersible’s operator, OceanGate Expeditions, issued a statement Thursday grieving the five men on board, including OceanGate CEO and founder Stockton Rush, British businessman Hamish Harding, French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, British billionaire Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood.
Unlike a submarine, a submersible has limited power reserves and needs a support ship on the surface to launch and recover it. Titan typically spent about 10 to 11 hours during each trip to the Titanic wreck, while submarines can stay underwater for months.
Experts are searching for answers among debris of Titanic-bound submersible implosion
From CNN's Elizabeth Wolfe and Rob Frehse
US Rear Adm. John Mauger, the First Coast Guard District commander, speaks at a press conference at the US Coast Guard Base Boston in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 22.
Joseph Prezioso/AFP/Getty Images
Investigators are continuing to scour the ocean floor for any insight into how a “catastrophic implosion” killed all five passengers of a Titanic-bound submersible that suddenly lost communication with its mother ship over the weekend, officials said.
A dayslong international search effort concluded Thursday after debris from the submersible – known as the Titan – was found about 1,600 feet from the historic wreckage of the Titanic. Military experts found the debris was consistent with the disastrous loss of the vessel’s pressure chamber, US Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger announced.
The passengers killed were a Pakistan-born British businessman and his son, Shahzada and Suleman Dawood; British businessman Hamish Harding; French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet; and Stockton Rush, the CEO of the vessel’s operator, OceanGate Expeditions.
As officials work to determine the timeline and circumstances of the accident, remotely operated vehicles will be used to map out the vessel’s debris field, which is more than 2 miles deep in the North Atlantic Ocean, Mauger said.
Officials have yet to conclusively determine whether the devastating implosion occurred at the moment when the submersible stopped communicating about 1 hour and 45 minutes into its dive, Mauger said.
A senior Navy official, however, told CNN that a Navy review of acoustics data detected an “anomaly consistent with an implosion or explosion” on Sunday in the general area where the Titan was diving when it went silent.
Scottish university “profoundly saddened” by death of student Suleman Dawood
From CNN's Sharon Braithwaite
The University of Strathclyde, in Glasgow, Scotland, said it is “profoundly saddened” by the death of 19-year-old student Suleman Dawood, who was one of five passengers killed in the implosion of the Titanic submersible over the weekend.
Suleman was a Strathclyde Business School student and had just completed his first year. His father, British billionaire Shahzada Dawood, was also on board.
“The staff and students of Strathclyde have been shocked and profoundly saddened by the death of Suleman Dawood and his father in this tragic incident,” a spokesperson for the University of Strathclyde said Friday.
“The entire University community offers our deepest condolences to the Dawood family and all of those affected by this terrible accident.”
Link Copied!
British Asian Trust "deeply saddened" by death of Dawood father and son
From CNN's Sophia Saifi
Shahzada Dawood, right, is seen with his son Suleman Dawood, in an undated photo.
Courtesy Engro Corporation Limited/Reuters
The British Asian Trust said Friday it is “deeply saddened” by the death of Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, who were on board a Titanic-bound submersible that imploded over the weekend.
The Pakistan-born British businessman and his son were two of five passengers killed in the disastrous implosion. The submersible’s loss of communication with its mother ship triggered an international search effort that concluded Thursday after debris from the vessel was found in the North Atlantic Ocean.
“The British Asian Trust is deeply saddened by the tragic news that our supporter Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman have passed away. They were on board the missing submarine that set off to see the wreck of the Titanic,” the trust tweeted on Friday.
“Shahzada was a wonderful and generous man who supported our work in South Asia for many years, while his son was just emerging into adulthood with a promising future ahead.
“Our hearts and prayers are with family and friends at this unimaginable time of grief and loss. Our deepest condolences to them and everyone else who lost loved ones in this terrible incident.”
The Dawood Foundation posted a photo of Shahzada and Suleman on Friday with the statement: “With heavy hearts and great sadness, we grieve the loss of our Trustee, Shahzada Dawood, and his beloved son Suleman Dawood. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Dawood family at this tragic time.”
Link Copied!
Search teams are scouring the sea floor for clues about the Titan's fateful voyage. Here's the latest
From CNN staff
The search for more debris from the Titan submersible continues into Friday as officials try to piece together a timeline of the vessel’s final moments.
On Thursday, authorities said the five passengers on the sub that was diving 13,000 feet to view the wreckage of the Titanic on the ocean floor died in a “catastrophic implosion,” bookending an extraordinary five-day international search operation.
Here’s what we know:
Immediate next steps: Remotely operated vehicles will remain on the scene and continue to gather information from the sea floor, US Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger said. It will take time to determine a specific timeline of events in the “incredibly complex” case of the Titan’s failure, Mauger said. The Coast Guard official said the agency will eventually have more information about what went wrong and its assessment of the emergency response.
What is a catastrophic explosion? An underwater implosion refers to the sudden inward collapse of the vessel. At those depths there is a tremendous amount of pressure on the submersible and even the tiniest structural defect could be disastrous, experts said. At the depths of the Titanic wreck, the implosion would have happened in a fraction of a millisecond. Former naval officer Aileen Marty said the implosion would have happened before anyone “inside would even realize that there was a problem.”
Debris: The remotely operated vehicle found “five different major pieces of debris” from the Titan submersible, according to Paul Hankins, the US Navy’s director of salvage operations and ocean engineering. The debris was “consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber” and, in turn, a “catastrophic implosion,” he said. As of now, there does not appear to be a connection between the banging noises picked up by sonar earlier this week and where the debris was found. So far, they have located the Titan’s nose cone and one end of its pressure hulls in a large debris field, and the other end of the pressure hull in a second, smaller debris field.
Timing: The US Navy detected an acoustic signature consistent with an implosion on Sunday and relayed that information to the commanders leading the search effort, a senior official told CNN. But the sound was determined to be “not definitive,” the official said. Mauger said rescuers had sonar buoys in the water for at least the last 72 hours and had “not detected any catastrophic events.” Listening devices set up during the search also did not record any sign of an implosion, he added.
Who was on board: Tour organizer OceanGate Expeditions said Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Paul-Henri Nargeolet and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush died in the sub. They “shared a distinct spirit of adventure,” the company in a statement.
Reaction: Nargeolet, a French diver, was an incredible person and highly respected in his field, said his friend Tom Dettweiler, a fellow ocean explorer. The president of The Explorers Club said the group is heartbroken over the tragic loss. Two passengers, businessman Harding and Nargeolet, were members, it said. Engro Corporation Limited, of which Shahzada Dawood was Vice Chairman, said the company grieves the loss of him and his son. The governments of Pakistan and the United Kingdom also offered condolences.
Similarities with famous shipwreck: James Cameron, who directed the hit 1997 movie “Titanic” and has himself made 33 dives to the wreckage, said he’s worried the Titan submersible’s implosion will have a negative impact on citizen explorers. He also said he saw “a parallel” with the Titanic due to “unheeded warnings about a sub that was not certified.”
Link Copied!
Like the Titanic, Titan's legacy may be a rethink of maritime rules
From CNN's Brad Lendon
The RMS Titanic leaves Belfast in April of 1912.
Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis/Getty Images
After RMS Titanic sank on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic in 1912, governments on both sides of the ocean took a hard look at whether more could have been done to protect the some 2,200 people aboard, including the more than 1,500 who died.
The result was the Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). Passed in 1914, its framework stands to this day, with many of its rules directly evolving from the Titanic tragedy.
With the implosion of the submersible Titan as it dived down to the wreck of the Titanic this week, killing all five people aboard, experts say there may be a new push for rules governing new high end, big dollar tourism of the kind being practiced by OceanGate Expeditions, the company that ran the Titan.
The unsinkable ship: When the Titanic set sail from Southampton, it was the world’s largest ocean liner, built with state-of-the-art maritime technology that many thought made it unsinkable.
Such was the belief in the Titanic that safety regulations of the day were not updated to keep pace with the technology.
Lessons from Titan: Maritime experts and historians have noted the Titan submersible operated outside of the regulations prompted by the Titanic disaster, and did not need to conform to safety regulations, since it operated in international waters.
While innovators and explorers may push the limits — or even break the rules — for scientific advancement, experts say there should be a higher safety threshold for paying passengers, like three of the dead aboard Titan, and that a rethink of the international rules governing such expeditions may be in order, just as they were re-examined after the Titanic sank.
"Majority of the vessel" must be recovered to know what happened to Titan submersible, expert says
Many questions remain as authorities continue searching for debris from the Titan submersible, including when the implosion happened and what exactly went wrong with the sub.
So far, search teams have located the Titan’s nose cone and one end of its pressure hulls in a large debris field, and the other end of the pressure hull in a second, smaller debris field.
Bobby Chacon, retired FBI special agent and former leader of the FBI dive team, told CNN that a debris field like the one search teams discovered could have been created by an almost simultaneous implosion and explosion of the submersible.
Chacon added that it won’t be possible to know what happened to the submersible “unless you recover the majority of the vessel.”
Chacon said the best scenario would be to use remotely operated vehicles, which have baskets and arms that can lift the debris.
“The good thing is it sounds like there is no other Titanic debris in that section. Everything they come across there should be collected, put into baskets and brought back to the surface for analysis,” he said.
Link Copied!
What's next for the search effort?
From CNN's Jessie Yeung
Experts say it is unlikely any bodies will be recovered but the US Coast Guard said it will continue the search in an effort to recover what it can.
Besides searching for the passengers, authorities will also continue to search the sea floor in hopes of discovering more information about what led to the implosion.
It will take time to put together a specific timeline of events, the US Coast Guard said Thursday, calling the underwater environment “incredibly complex.”
So far, they have located the Titan’s nose cone and one end of its pressure hulls in a large debris field, and the other end of the pressure hull in a second, smaller debris field.
He added that the debris pieces could still be “slightly buoyant” and be carried further away by ocean currents. “So the big project right now is going to be trying to collect those parts,” he said. “They’ll mark them, they’ll indicate where they were, and they’ll lay out a map of where those parts were found.”
Debris from the missing Titan submersible was found near the wreckage of the Titanic Thursday, five days after a massive search operation was launched when the vessel lost contact with its mother ship.
US Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger said the vessel suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” killing all five people on board.
Here’s a timeline of events:
Sunday: Titan launches from support vessel Polar Prince around 9 a.m. and begins its 2-hour dive to the Titanic wreck. It loses contact with the ship 1 hour and 45 minutes into its descent, with their last communication to the surface at 11:47 a.m, officials say. The US Coast Guard is alerted and search operations begin later that day. The US Navy detects an acoustic signature consistent with an implosion and relays that information to commanders leading the search effort, a senior official tells CNN. But the sound is determined to be “not definitive,” the official says, and the search continues.
Monday: The US and Canadian coast guards continue surface and subsurface searches. A Canadian aircraft and two C-130 flights conduct aerial and radar searches and sonar buoys are deployed to listen for sounds in the water column. Officials say if the submersible is still intact, it is estimated to have between 70 and 96 hours of life support. The US Coast Guard says its priority is locating the vessel. British businessman Hamish Harding is identified as one of the passengers.
Tuesday: Sonar picks up banging sounds from underneath the water in 30-minute intervals, according to an internal government memo. The US Coast Guard says underwater noises were also detected by a Canadian P-3 aircraft but searches “yielded negative results.” The search expands into a massive international operation with underwater capability. More ships and aircraft join the mission. The other crewmembers are identified as Stockton Rush, CEO and founder of OceanGate, Pakistani billionaire Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman Dawood, and French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
Wednesday: The US Coast Guard expands the search site as estimated oxygen levels on the submersible are thought to have reached critical levels. A fleet of ships and specialized equipment is deployed, including a US Navy salvage system capable of retrieving vessels off the bottom of the ocean floor. More banging sounds are heard and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) equipment is relocated to try to pinpoint the them — but yield no results. Questions are raised over the safety of the submersible, including that operators OceanGate Expeditions declined a safety review of the Titan.
Thursday: A remote operated vehicle reaches the sea floor for the first time as new, high-tech vessels and medical personnel move to the search site with efforts reaching a pivotal moment. Around midday ET, the US Coast Guard says a debris field was discovered in the search area by an ROV and is later assessed to be from the external body of the sub. OceanGate says it believes the passengers have “sadly been lost.” In an update, the US Coast Guard says five major pieces of debris from the sub have been found and are “consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber.” Around 3 p.m. ET, Rear Adm. John Mauger, says the vessel suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” killing all five on board. The location of the submersible was in an area that was approximately 1,600 feet from the wreck of the Titanic, and officials say they are working to piece together a timeline of what happened.
Link Copied!
What is a catastrophic implosion?
From CNN staff
The Titan submersible bound for the Titanic that went missing on Sunday with five people on board suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” US Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger said Thursday.
The tail cone and other debris from the missing submersible were found by a remotely operated vehicle about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic, which rests about 13,000 feet deep in the North Atlantic Ocean.
The Coast Guard said the debris found on the sea floor was “consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber.”
What is a catastrophic implosion? The opposite of an explosion, an implosion is when an object suddenly and violently collapses in on itself. At those depths there is a tremendous amount of pressure on the submersible and even the tiniest structural defect could be disastrous, experts said. “So at that pressure (there) are probably around four, five thousand pounds per square inch, over 350 times the pressure on Earth. Any small leak could cause an immediate implosion, which would destroy the craft,” said Tom Maddox, CEO of Underwater Forensic Investigators, who took part in a Titanic expedition in 2005.
Some context: Pressure on the surface is measured as 1 atmosphere, which is about 15 pounds per square inch. As you dive deeper underwater, that pressure builds and builds. At the depths of the Titanic wreck, the pressure is close to 6,000 pounds per square inch.
Would the crew have known what was happening? With so much pressure on the submersible, the implosion would have happened in a fraction of a millisecond. A catastrophic implosion happens at 1,500 miles per hour, Aileen Marty, a former naval officer and professor at Florida International University told CNN. “It takes more than that — it takes about 0.25 more than that — for the human brain to even realize it’s happening. So … the entire thing would have collapsed before the individuals inside would even realize that there was a problem,” Marty said. “They died in a way that they didn’t even realize that they were about to die. Ultimately, among the many ways in which we can pass, that’s painless.”
Recovery chances: When asked about the likelihood of recovering crew members of the Titan, Mauger from the US Coast Guard said he doesn’t “have an answer for prospects at this time,” but they will continue the search. “This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor,” he said Thursday.
Link Copied!
Submersible heading to Titanic wreckage suffered a "catastrophic implosion." Catch up here
From CNN staff
The five passengers on the Titan submersible that was diving 13,000 feet to view the Titanic on the ocean floor died in a “catastrophic implosion,” authorities said Thursday, bookending an extraordinary five-day international search operation near the site of the world’s most famous shipwreck.
The tail cone and other debris were found by a remotely operated vehicle about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic, deep in the North Atlantic and about 900 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
“This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor and the debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel,” US Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger, the First Coast Guard District commander, told reporters.
Timing: The US Navy detected an acoustic signature consistent with an implosion on Sunday and relayed that information to the commanders leading the search effort, a senior official told CNN. But the sound was determined to be “not definitive,” the official said. Mauger, for his part, said rescuers had sonar buoys in the water for at least the last 72 hours and had “not detected any catastrophic events.” Listening devices set up during the search also did not record any sign of an implosion, Mauger added.
What comes next: The remotely operated vehicles will remain on the scene and continue to gather information, Mauger said. It will take time to determine a specific timeline of events in the “incredibly complex” case of the Titan’s failure, Mauger said. The Coast Guard official said the agency will eventually have more information about what went wrong and its assessment of the emergency response.
Response: Mauger applauded the “huge international” and “interagency” search effort. He said teams had the appropriate gear and worked as quickly as possible. The Coast Guard official also thanked experts and agencies for assisting with the search for the Titan submersible.
Who was on board: Tour organizer OceanGate Expeditions said Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Paul-Henri Nargeolet and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush died in the submersible. They “shared a distinct spirit of adventure,” the company in a statement.
Reaction: Nargeolet, a French diver, was an incredible person and highly respected in his field, said his friend Tom Dettweiler, a fellow ocean explorer. The president of The Explorers Club said the group is heartbroken over the tragic loss. Two passengers, businessman Harding and Nargeolet, were members, it said. Engro Corporation Limited, of which Shahzada Dawood was Vice Chairman, said the company grieves the loss of him and his son. The governments of Pakistan and the United Kingdom also offered condolences.
Link Copied!
"Titanic" director James Cameron sees similarities with submersible tragedy and famous shipwreck
From CNN's Lisa Respers France and Alli Rosenbloom
James Cameron speaks to CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday.
CNN
James Cameron, who directed the hit 1997 film “Titanic” and has himself made 33 dives to the wreckage, offered his thoughts Thursday after it was announced that a missing Titanic-bound submersible suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” killing all five people on board.
Cameron added he thinks “we’re also seeing a parallel here with unheeded warnings about a sub that was not certified.”
Cameron is an experienced deep sea explorer who in 2012 dove to the Mariana Trench, considered one of the deepest spots in the Earth’s oceans at almost 7 miles below the surface, in a 24-foot submersible vehicle he designed called the Deepsea Challenger.
Speaking of his deep-sea dives to the site of the Titanic, Cameron told Cooper: “You feel the presence of the tragedy and I think that’s the lure. I think that’s why people want to go and experience it for themselves. To feel, to remember history.”
He added that while he thinks it’s important to remember that history, “here’s a case starkly, today, where the collective, we didn’t remember the lesson of Titanic — these guys at OceanGate didn’t.”
Link Copied!
Passengers lost in the "catastrophic implosion" of the Titan submersible remembered by loved ones
From CNN's Sugam Pokharel, Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman, Mostafa Salem, Gabe Cohen and Sofia Cox
From left, Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, Suleman Dawood, Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Stockton Rush.
Obtained by CNN
The Titan submersible bound for the Titanic that went missing on Sunday with five people on board suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” US Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger said Thursday.
Now those who knew the passengers are grappling with their tragic loss and some have sent messages of condolences as their legacies are remembered.
Engro Corporation Limited, where Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood was vice chairman, issued a statement on the deaths of Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood — who were among the five people on board the Titan. “With heavy hearts and with great sadness, we grieve the loss of our Vice Chairman, Shahzada Dawood, and his beloved son, Suleman Dawood. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Dawood family at this tragic time. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the family, colleagues, friends, and all those around the world who grieve this unthinkable loss,” the company tweeted on Thursday.
Dubai-based Action Aviation, the company owned by passenger Hamish Harding released a statement on behalf of his family. “Today, we are united in grief with the other families who have also lost their loved ones on the Titan submersible,” the statement read. “Hamish Harding was a loving husband to his wife and a dedicated father to his two sons, whom he loved deeply. To his team in Action Aviation, he was a guide, an inspiration, a support, and a Living Legend.” The statement went on to praise the efforts made to search for the Titan sub.
The family of French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet said he will “be remembered as one of the greatest deep-sea explorers in modern history.” The statement signed by Nargeolet’s children and wife said they hope people think about the explorer and his work when they think about the Titanic, “but what we will remember him most for is his big heart, his incredible sense of humor and how much he loved his family. We will miss him today and every day for the rest of our lives.”
OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Söhnlein said the loss of the Titan crew, including CEO Stockton Rush, was “tragic” and they knew their journey carried a risk. In an interview with CNN Thursday, he said: “It’s a tragic loss for the families and for the ocean exploration community in general. All five crew members were passionate explorers. And they died doing what they believed in. Those of us in the community that work at that depth, know that that’s always a risk. There’s pressure down so intense that if there is a failure, it is an instant, catastrophic failure. And we all know that it’s a risk.”
Link Copied!
US Navy detected an implosion Sunday, official says
From CNN's Eric Levenson, Priscilla Alvarez, Gabe Cohen, Nouran Salahieh and Oren Liebermann
The US Navy detected an acoustic signature consistent with an implosion on Sunday in the general area where the Titanic-bound submersible was diving when it lost communication with its mother ship, a senior Navy official told CNN Thursday.
The Navy then immediately relayed that information to the on-scene commanders leading the search effort, and it was used to narrow down the area of the search, the official said.
But the sound of the implosion was determined to be “not definitive,” the official said, and the multinational efforts to find the submersible continued as a search and rescue effort.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report about the acoustic signature picked up by the Navy.
That insight comes the same day the US Coast Guard announced the submersible suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” killing all five people on board.
The tail cone and other debris from the missing submersible were found by a remotely operated vehicle about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic, which rests about 13,000 feet deep in the North Atlantic Ocean.
Five different major pieces of debris from the submersible, known as the “Titan,” were found in the area, and each end of the pressure hull was found in a different place, according to Paul Hankins, US Navy Director of Salvage Operations and Ocean Engineering.
The families were immediately notified, Mauger said.
Wife of submersible pilot is a descendant from Titanic couple who perished
From CNN's Lisa Respers France
Wendy Rush, the wife of the pilot killed in a Titanic-bound submersible that coast guard officials say suffered catastrophic implosion, is the descendant of a couple who perished on the ship in 1912.
Rush is the great-great granddaughter of retailing magnate Isidor Straus and his wife, Ida, who were part of the group of more than 1,500 people who died during the Titanic’s maiden voyage, according to New York Times archive records.
The couple were fictionalized by Lew Palter as Isidor and Elsa Raven as Ida in the Oscar-winning 1997 film “Titanic,” directed by James Cameron.
While several of the scenes focusing on them in the movie were cut, a scene featuring the characters clutching each other on a bed as the ship went down became notably memorable.
