Final debris and ‘presumed human remains’ from Titan sub found on Atlantic seabed

The US Coast Guard says it has recovered the rest of the debris and ‘presumed human remains’ from the Titan submersible that imploded during a mission to view the wreck of the Titanic in June, killing all five people on board.

Officials confirmed on Tuesday (10 October 2023) that the remaining parts of the craft were recovered from the Atlantic seabed last week, and have been taken to a US port. Medical officials will analyse the human remains.

The Coast Guard says the salvage mission to recover the rest of the vessel was conducted under an agreement with the US Navy, after an initial operation to recover parts of the vessel.

The Titan submersible was lost one hour and 45 minutes into its dive on Sunday, 18 June, 2023. After an extensive search and rescue effort, wreckage of the Titan submersible was located on the ocean floor approximately 500 metres off the bow of the Titanic.

Investigators believe the Titan imploded under intense pressure as it descended into deep North Atlantic waters.

The company that built the vessel, OceanGate, described Titan as ‘experimental’. The submersible had made several dives to the site of the Titanic wreck, which sits at a depth of 3,800m below sea level in the North Atlantic Ocean. OceanGate has since gone out of business.

The chief executive of OceanGate, Stockton Rush, was aboard when the vessel was lost. The other four passengers who died on board were: Paul-Henry Nargeolet, 77, a former French navy diver; British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48; his son Suleman, 19; and British businessman Hamish Harding, 58.