What’s believed to be human remains have been recovered along with wreckage from the Titan submersible, authorities said Wednesday evening.
The U.S. Coast Guard issued a press release saying the “presumed human remains” were located within the sub’s wreckage and were “carefully recovered.”
The agency added that U.S. medical professionals will conduct formal tests on the remains to assist in the investigation.
“The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of this tragedy,” Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) Chair Captain Jason Neubauer said in a statement.
“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,” Neubauer added.
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A crane hoisted several large chunks of the sub from the water earlier in the day. The debris was placed on a recovery ship docked in St. John’s, Newfoundland, the CBC reported.
Canadian ship Horizon Arctic used a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to search the ocean floor, and located pieces of the sub about 1,600 feet from the shipwrecked Titanic.
U.S. company Pelagic Research Services, owns the ROV and assisted government agencies with the recovery operation, the Associated Press reported.
“They have been working around the clock now for ten days, through the physical and mental challenges of this operation, and are anxious to finish the mission and return to their loved ones,” Jeff Mahoney, a spokesperson for the company, said Wednesday.
Newfoundland news agency VOCM posted footage on Twitter of the recovered debris, which included the sub’s nose cone, pieces of its hull and tail.
More debris taken off the by Horizon Arctic crane. Looks like a side panel. Something is covering over the logo. @VOCMNEWS pic.twitter.com/c72m8jTeMa
— Allison King (@AllisonKingVOCM) June 28, 2023
The debris field was found about 12,500 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean last week.
There were five people aboard the Titan when it vanished off the coast of Canada on Sunday (June 18). Everyone on the vessel died when it imploded, officials said.
OceanGate Expeditions CEO and submersible pilot Stockton Rush was killed in the implosion, along with British billionaire Hamish Harding, French dive expert Paul Henry Nargeolet, prominent Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.
OceanGate, headquartered in Everett, Washington, had taken passengers on a deep-sea tour of the Titanic.
The passengers paid up to $250,000 to view the decaying Titanic, which sank in 1912.
During a news conference on June 22, Rear Adm. John Mauger of the First Coast Guard District told reporters the sub’s debris was “consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel.”
The U.S. Coast Guard is leading the investigation into what caused the sub to implode.
The Titan sub made previous trips to the Titanic site in 2021 and 2022, according to documents filed with a U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, that oversees matters involving the Titanic shipwreck.
