The Titan was carrying Dubai-based billionaire Hamish Harding and businessman Shahzada Dawood. ARCHIVE

The US Coast Guard confirmed on Thursday (June 23) that debris from the missing Titan submersible has been found, with the five people onboard the vessel presumed dead. The Titan was reported missing on Sunday, about one hour and 45 minutes after it submerged towards the Titanic wreckage. The discovery of its debris puts an end to a four-day search to locate the vessel. OceanGate Expeditions, which operates the Titan, confirmed that the five people on board were presumed dead. Onboard the Titan were Dubai-based British billionaire Hamish Harding, prominent Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman, French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet and OceanGate CEO and founder Stockton Rush. “We now believe  . . . have sadly been lost,” the company said in a statement. “These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans.” A massive international search and rescue effort involving teams from the US, Canada and France were involved. On Thursday, US Coast Guard’s Rear Admiral John Mauger confirmed that parts of the Titan were found approximately 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic wreck. The debris was located by a remote-controlled underwater search vehicle. Mauger said the debris was consistent with a “catastrophic implosion”. He could not confirm whether the bodies can be recovered, saying it is an “credibly unforgiving environment.” He implied that the tragedy likely occurred before the rescue effort got under way, saying soon monitoring of the area on Monday did not detect any signs of an implosion. “We know that as we’ve been prosecuting this search over the course of the last 72 hours and beyond that we have had sonar buoys in the water nearly continuously and have not detected any catastrophic events when those sonar buoys have been in the water,” Mauger said in a press conference. Carl Hartsfield, an expert at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said that the debris was found in a smooth area of the seabed, suggesting that the Titan did not collide with the Titanic wreckage. ICA/Expat Media
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