U.S. medical professionals are expected to analyze what the U.S. Coast Guard has described as “presumed human remains” found in debris found from the Titan submersible.
Five people were aboard the submersible when it launched June 18: Stockton Rush, 61, who founded Titan operating company OceanGate, Hamish Harding, 58, chairman of Action Aviation; Paul-Henry Nargeolet, 73, a Titanic expert; Shahzada Dawood, 48, one of the richest men in Pakistan and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood.
They were headed to the wreck site of the Titanic, a ship that sank during its maiden voyage in April 1912, killing around 1,500 passengers in the mid-Atlantic.
For days after the Titan submersible went missing, the Coast Guard conducted a search and the world speculated about whether the passengers could survive on dwindling oxygen while trapped in a tight space. Later, reports that the U.S. Navy heard sounds consistent with an implosion around the time the sub lost contact were revealed.
Last Thursday, the Coast Guard announced that debris from the wreck was found around 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic on the ocean floor. This Wednesday, the Coast Guard received debris and evidence recovered from the seafloor at the site when the M/V HORIZON ARCTIC arrived in St. John’s Newfoundland.
“After consultation with international partner investigative agencies, the Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) intends to transport the evidence aboard a U.S. Coast Guard cutter to a port in the United States where the MBI will be able to facilitate further analysis and testing,” said the Coast Guard. A formal analysis of the presumed human remains will be conducted.
“I am grateful for the coordinated international and interagency support to recover and preserve this vital evidence at extreme offshore distances and depths,” said MBI Chair Captain Jason Neubauer. “The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of this tragedy. There is still a substantial amount of work to be done to understand the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the TITAN and help ensure a similar tragedy does not occur again.”
Going forward, the MBI plans to continue evidence collection and witness interviews “to inform a public hearing regarding this tragedy.”
People who have information that may assist the effort can contact the Coast Guard MBI at accidentinfo@uscg.mil.
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