By Charlie Herbert
The US Coast Guard confirmed the news.
The five men who were onboard the missing Titan submersible have been declared dead by the US Coast Guard.
In a press conference that began on Thursday (22 June) at around 8pm Irish time, Rear Adm John Mauger stated that the debris discovered hours earlier by search teams was pieces of the Titan.
He said that this discovery was consistent with “the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber”.
“Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families,” he added.
“On behalf of the United States Coast Guard and the entire unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families. I can only imagine what this has been like for them.
“I hope that this discovery provides some solace during this difficult time.”
The OceanGate-owned vessel lost communication with tour operators less than two hours into its dive on Sunday (18 June) while about 435 miles south of St John’s in Newfoundland. This was during a voyage to the Titanic shipwreck off the coast of Canada.
According to Mauger, at this point in time it is too early to tell when the implosion of the Titan occurred.
British billionaire Hamish Harding – who had previously travelled on the Challenger Deep to the bottom of the ocean and on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin into space – was one of the people onboard the submarine, alongside French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, OceanGate founder Stockton Rush, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and the latter’s son Suleman.
The submersible was just 6.7m (22ft) long and has dimensions of 263 inches x 110 inches x 98 inches, around the same as a minivan.
The expedition was OceanGate’s third annual voyage to chronicle the iconic ocean liner that struck an iceberg and sank in 1912.
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