Titanic Sub Passengers All Presumed Dead After ‘Catastrophic Implosion’

All five people aboard the Titanic sub are believed to have died after debris was discovered in the search area for the missing vessel, the U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday afternoon.

The debris field from the Titan submersible, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, was located near the remains of the shipwrecked Titanic.

During a news conference Thursday, Rear Adm. John Mauger of the First Coast Guard District told reporters the debris “is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel.”

Officials said they notified the families of the pilot and four passengers letting them know everyone on the Titan is presumed dead.

“The outpouring of support in this highly complex search operation has been great appreciated. Our most heartfelt condolences go out to the friends and loved ones of the crew,” Mauger said.

OceanGate Expeditions released a statement, saying the five men on the vessel “have sadly been lost.”

The search for the missing sub took a critical turn Thursday after a French vessel joined the rescue operation, and a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) pinpointed the debris deep in the Atlantic Ocean.

“A debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic,” the U.S. Coast Guard announced earlier Thursday on Twitter.

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The submersible’s 96-hour breathable air supply was feared to have run out hours earlier.

The vessel was equipped with an estimated four-day supply of air when it left to view wreckage from the Titanic — 13,000 feet below the surface of the North Atlantic.

The Titan vanished off the coast of Canada on Sunday (June 18).

The passengers paid $250,000 to view the decaying Titanic, which sank in 1912.

The people on the sub have been identified as Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate Expeditions; British billionaire Hamish Harding; French dive expert Paul Henry Nargeolet; prominent Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.

The Associated Press reported that the Titan 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.

At least 46 people made the journey on the submersible before the “implosion.”