Presumed human remains recovered from wreckage of Titan submersible

Exactly 10 days after the Titan disappeared, wreckage of the submersible has been brought ashore, as ITV News Correspondent Robert Moore reports

Presumed human remains have been recovered from the wreckage of the Titan submersible and will be analysed by medical professionals, the US Coast Guard has said.

Wreckage from the submersible that catastrophically imploded on its descent to the Titanic shipwreck was brought to St John’s harbour on Wednesday after it was retrieved from the North Atlantic.

The US Coast Guard (USCG) said it received debris and evidence from the sea floor at the site of the deep-sea vessel’s fatal implosion, which killed five people.

Speaking after the evidence was recovered, the Marine Board of Investigation’s (MBI) chairman, Captain Jason Neubauer, said: “I am grateful for the co-ordinated international and inter-agency support to recover and preserve this vital evidence at extreme offshore distances and depths.

“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.

”The USCG said the MBI intends to transport the evidence to a port in the US where they will be able to facilitate further analysis and testing.

The MBI will continue evidence collection and witness interviews to inform a public hearing about the incident, the USCG added.

Pelagic Research Services, whose remote operating vehicle (ROV) discovered the debris fields, said on Wednesday its team is “still on mission”.

A statement said: “They have been working around the clock now for 10 days, through the physical and mental challenges of this operation, and are anxious to finish the mission and return to their loved ones."

The Titan submersible lost contact with tour operator OceanGate Expeditions an hour and 45 minutes into the two-hour descent to the wreckage, with the vessel reported missing eight hours after communication was lost

Pieces of the OceanGate vessel were seen being lifted by crane from the Horizon Arctic in St John's, Newfoundland after an ROV was deployed to the ocean floor to search for the missing sub.

Five people, including Britons Hamish Harding, Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, were killed.

A large-scale search and rescue operation ensued when communications were lost with the sub on Sunday, June 18.

Fleets of ships from both the US and Canadian authorities scoured the ocean for any sign of Titan, which also carried OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush and former French Navy commander Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

By Thursday, June 22, a remotely-operated vehicle had discovered a debris field around 1,600ft from the bow of the Titanic.

The debris field was confirmed to be parts of the Titan, as the US Coast Guard confirmed a "catastrophic implosion of the pressure chamber" took place.

A safety investigation has been launched after questions were raised over Mr Rush's push to get the unregulated sub thousands of feet underwater despite persistent worries from peers in the deep-sea submersible world.

But the 61-year-old OceanGate founder seemed to dismiss concerns over safety, saying he was "tired of industry players who try to use a safety argument to stop innovation" in emails seen by ITV News.

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".

Pelagic Research Services – whose remote operating vehicle (ROV) discovered the debris fields – said on Wednesday its team is “still on mission”.

A statement read: “They have been working around the clock now for 10 days, through the physical and mental challenges of this operation, and are anxious to finish the mission and return to their loved ones.”

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