Titanic sub incident: Safety probe launched into fatal implosion of Titan vessel
A safety investigation is to be launched into the fatal implosion of the Titan submersible which killed five people in the Atlantic.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) said on Friday it would begin a probe "into the fatal occurrence involving the Canadian-flagged vessel Polar Prince and the privately operated submersible Titan".
British adventurer Hamish Harding and father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood were killed on board the Titan submersible when it catastrophically imploded, alongside the chief executive of the company responsible for the vessel, Stockton Rush, and French national Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
US Coast Guard officials said on Thursday that the Titan imploded following a "catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber".
In a short statement, the TSB said: "In accordance with the Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board Act and international agreements, the TSB, as the investigation authority of the flag state of the support vessel involved in the occurrence, will conduct a safety investigation regarding the circumstances of this operation conducted by the Canadian-flagged vessel Polar Prince.
"A team of TSB investigators is travelling to St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, to gather information, conduct interviews, and assess the occurrence.
"In the coming days, we will coordinate our activities with other agencies involved."
The Titan set off last Sunday on a voyage to the Titanic shipwreck, but lost contact with its mothership, the Polar Prince, around one hour and 45 minutes into its descent.
A report from The Wall Street Journal said the US navy had detected a sound in the search area for the submersible on Sunday that was consistent with an implosion.
The Associated Press, citing a senior military official, reported that the navy passed on the information to the coastguard, which continued its search because the data was not considered by the navy to be definitive.
Emails have shown that Mr Rush was dismissive of safety concerns over the deep-sea vessel, in which he said he was "tired of industry players who try to use a safety argument to stop innovation".
The correspondence, which was obtained by the BBC, showed exchanges between Mr Rush and deep sea exploration specialist Rob McCallum.
The broadcaster reported that the email exchange ended when the company's lawyers threatened legal action.
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