Key Points
- All five passengers on board the Titan submersible have been declared dead.
- Robots including the Victor 6000 and the Odysseus 6k are exploring the depths of the ocean.
- The US Coast Guard is leading the mission.
Although all five passengers on board the Titan submersible that went missing while heading toward the wreck of the Titanic, have been declared dead, a complex investigation is still underway.
There appears to have been a “catastrophic implosion,” a US Coast Guard official said, announcing that debris from the submersible had been found around 4km below the ocean surface.
Robotic craft on the ocean floor will continue to gather evidence as part of an extremely complex rescue mission involving ships from at least three countries.
What has happened during the rescue so far?
The Titanic wreck lies around 700km south of the Canadian town of St John’s, Newfoundland, and the operation has been run from Boston, in the US.
About a dozen ships have been in the area to help the rescue mission, according to the BBC.
Deep-sea diving robot Victor 6000 has been involved in the search-and-rescue operation for the disappeared submersible Titan on the site of the Titanic wreckage. Source: AAP / ABACA/PA/Alamy
A number of remote operating vehicles (ROVs) have been used, including the Victor 6000.
The French research ship Atalante was transporting the Victor 6000 and arrived in the zone on Thursday.
It was first using an echo-sounder to accurately map the seabed for the robot’s search to be more targeted, the French marine research institute Ifremer said.
The robot has arms that can be remotely controlled to help free a trapped craft or hook it to a ship to haul it up.
The US Navy sent a special salvage system designed to lift large undersea objects.
The Horizon Arctic vessel was carrying an Odysseus 6k ROV which has lights and cameras on board that enable the team on the surface ship to see the ocean floor in real time.
Who will pay for the Titan sub rescue?
As the focus has been on supporting the families of the passengers who died, details about the ongoing rescue mission and who would foot the bill have not been announced.
But Professor Ali Asgary, an expert in disaster and emergency management from Canada’s York University, said it will be among the costliest search and rescue operations ever.
It’s possible it could be covered by insurance, OceanGate or the public, or a combination.
The response has involved France, Canada and the US.
The search and rescue operations associated with the missing Titan submersible involved efforts from three different countries. Source: AAP / Maxar Technologies/Handout/EPA
Rear Admiral John Mauger from the US Coast Guard said it was particularly complex because the incident had happened in a remote part of the ocean, involving people of different nationalities.
But the US Coast Guard is likely to continue to have an important part, as it has played a leading role in the operation so far, and the operation had largely been commanded from the US.
The organisation is responsible for search-and-rescue missions a certain distance from the US shore, which the search zone for the sub fell within.
A ticket to go on the submersible cost US$250,000 ($374,000).
“These people paid a lot of money to do something extraordinarily risky and hard to recover from,” said Chris Boyer, the executive director of the National Association for Search and Rescue, a nonprofit that focuses on wilderness rescues.
The rescue mission, he said, would “probably cost millions.”
In the US the funding of search and rescue efforts vary in different states. Some states, like New Hampshire, charge individuals for rescues if the people are determined to have been reckless.
The submersible went missing while looking for the Titanic wreck. Source: Press Association / OceanGate Expeditions/Alamy
What happens next with the Titan sub investigation?
The US Coast Guard will continue to investigate the debris field, which is around 488 metres from the Titanic wreck site, and several vessels, medical personnel and technicians remain on the scene.
“I don’t have a timeline for when we would intend to stop remote operations on the seafloor at this point,” said Rear Admiral Mauger.
He said the Coast Guard is “not sure” it can recover the bodies of the five people on board.
included the British billionaire and explorer Hamish Harding, 58; Pakistani-born business magnate Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son, Suleman, both British citizens; French oceanographer and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, who had visited the wreck dozens of times; and Stockton Rush, the US founder and chief executive of OceanGate, who was piloting the submersible.
