The missing wreckage of the Titan submersible, which suffered a catastrophic implosion while en route to the wreck of the Titanic in June, has finally been recovered. The information was confirmed by the U.S. Coast Guard, warning that the find could include suspected human remains.
According to the official statement from authorities, evidence recovered in the North Atlantic last week by Coast Guard Board of Inquiry maritime safety engineers “was successfully transferred to a U.S. port for cataloging and analysis. Additional human remains were carefully recovered and transported for analysis by U.S. medical professionals.”
This new mission to try to find out more information about what happened was a follow-up to the initial operations after the submersible imploded.
Titan: What Was the Cause of the Submersible’s Accident?
The Maritime Board of Investigation reported that it is coordinating with the National Transportation Safety Board and other international investigative agencies to schedule a “joint evidence review” of the recovered wreckage, which will determine the next steps for forensic testing.
On June 22, authorities confirmed that the five passengers aboard the Titan died shortly after the submersible lost contact approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes after it began its dive into the wreckage of the Titanic. The board will continue to analyze evidence and interview witnesses before a public hearing on this tragedy. Possibly, at that event, the date of which is yet to be determined, it will be revealed whether there are indeed human remains of the crew members.
Titan: Who Died in the Submersible?
On board the submersible were Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood with his son Suleman, a 19-year-old student; British explorer Hamish Harding; French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet; and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.
Where Are the Remains of the Titanic?
The wreckage of the Titanic lies at 3800 meters on the seabed and about 600 kilometers off the coast of Newfoundland in Canada. In recent decades, the area has been visited several times by scientists, explorers, tourists, and, of course, film directors such as James Cameron.
Thousands of artifacts have been recovered that show what a world-class ship looked like at the time; however, over time, the Titanic’s condition has deteriorated due to the constant growth of bacteria. That is why, as of 2001, UNESCO included the wreckage in its famous Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage.
What Happened to the Titanic?
The Titanic’s passenger line was the largest in the world at the beginning of the 20th century. On April 15, 1912, the ship sank after hitting an iceberg during its voyage from Southampton (England) to New York (United States).
Of the 2,200 passengers who started the voyage, more than 1,500 lost their lives. The remains of the ship were discovered in 1985 and, from that moment on, specialists began underwater voyages to understand what happened. Sometime later, the experience was opened to tourists.
For many years it was believed that the Titanic had sunk in one piece. However, the 1985 expedition led by Jean-Louis Michel and Robert Ballard changed the entire historical perspective. Thanks to that research, experts determined that the Titanic had “broken up” near the surface before sinking.
This story was written in Spanish by Miguel Fernández in Cultura Colectiva
