Rear Adm. John Mauger announced the lost submersible the Titan suffered a catastrophic implosion, leaving a debris field 1,600 feet from the wreck of the RMS Titanic Thursday afternoon.
Updated Thursday, June 22, 2023 3:55 p.m. EST - U.S. Navy Submariner and deep ocean submersible pilot Mark Martin, who knew two of the lost souls on the Titan, told WFLA News his sources indicate that the submersible was attempting to drop ballast when they lost communication with the support ship the Polar Prince.
Mauger insisted that it was too early to give reporters too many details, however he did note that the entire time rescue efforts have been ongoing, no loud noises have been heard by surface buoys—besides the intermittent and still unexplained knocking sound—meaning the vessel likely imploded when the support ship lost contact with the Titan two hours after the dive began.
He was also pretty efficient at dodging journalists’ questions regarding body recovery. In response to a question about the casualties, Mauger insisted its a dicy environment.
“It’s an incredibly unforgiving environment and the debris indicates a catastrophic implosion,” Mauger said. He seemed to be urging assembled reporters to take the hint as far as body recovery is concerned.
The debris field included the nose cone outside of the pressure haul, a large debris field contained the front end bell of the pressure hull. A second smaller debris field had the other end of the pressure haul, the aft end bell—the totality of the pressure vessel.
Currently, the plan is to keep the remotely operated vehicles deployed in order to map the area around the debris field in order to learn more about how the wreck occurred. Answers may come at a trickle, however. The wreck is two-and-a-half miles below the surface of the ocean and very few vessels are rated to reach such depths.
In response to the missing sub a huge search involving assets from the U.S., Canada and France spent the last four days searching for the Titan both under the sea and by air. A mysterious knocking sound offered a glimmer of hope Wednesday, but most estimates had the Titan running out of oxygen by Thursday morning.
Five men lost their lives in the incident; Hamish Harding, chairman of airplane marketplace Action Aviation, conglomerate chairman Shahzada Dawood, who works at Engro Corporation plus his 19-year-old son Suleman, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French explorer and Titanic wreckage enthusiast and Stockton Rush, CEO and founder of OceanGate.
This is a breaking story and we will update when we know more.