Last week, the world received the tragic news that the missing Titan submersible had been destroyed in a catastrophic implosion. Upon receiving this news, experts were skeptical that any of the men’s bodies would be able to be recovered, due to the water pressure at such depths and the harsh environment of the ocean.
However, as teams began finding debris from the implosion, they made a harrowing discovery. On June 28, the US Coast Guard announced that “presumed human remains” have also been found. Now, the world waits as medical professionals in the US conduct an analysis of the recovered remains, and teams continue searching the area for as much wreckage as they can salvage.
When news came out that the Titan sub had been destroyed in a catastrophic implosion, there was little hope that any of the wreckage would be recovered
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Experts warned that this type of disaster at such depths and in such a harsh environment would likely destroy all evidence
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But as of June 28, search teams have begun bringing salvaged pieces of the wreckage to shore
Image credits: Paul Daly/The Canadian Press via ZUMA Press
Image credits: LiveNOW from FOX
Since last week, search teams have been using a deep sea robot, or ROV, called Odysseus 6K to scour the seafloor in the North Atlantic Ocean to find any trace of the Titan implosion. On its fourth dive, the robot located a debris field, and now, teams are doing everything they can to retrieve pieces of the submarine. So far, the vessel's titanium front-end, a large panel from the Titan’s tail, and one segment including cables and wiring with parts resembling the Titan’s antennae have been seen being pulled out of the water.
However, the news that human remains may have been found in the wreckage of the Titan submersible comes as a surprise to many. In a press release published by the US Coast Guard on June 28, it was shared that, “United States medical professionals will conduct a formal analysis of presumed human remains that have been carefully recovered within the wreckage at the site of the incident.”
And the US Coast Guard has announced that they even found “presumed human remains” of passengers from the Titan
The five men who tragically lost their lives in the implosion were Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son, Suleman Dawood, 19; British explorer Hamish Harding, 58; French diver Paul-Henry Nargeolet, 77; and 61-year-old Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate.
Image credits: Reuters
The remains will now be transported to the US to receive thorough analysis by medical professionals
Image credits: Hamish Harding
Image credits: oceangate
Prior to receiving this news, many experts warned that it was unlikely very much would be salvaged from the implosion. Dr. Nicolai Roterman, a deep-sea ecologist at the University of Portsmouth in England, told NBC News he was not optimistic about finding any of the men. “There would be substantial challenges with recovering any bodies. And I think the priority at this point may well be focusing on recovering the debris as much as possible,” he shared.
Where the Titanic lies, approximately 12,500 feet under the sea, the water pressure is so intense that it would be difficult for anything to remain intact. Paul White, a professor at England’s University of Southampton who specializes in underwater acoustics and forces, previously explained the water pressure in that area to NBC News, noting that it’s about “1,000 times more” than the pressure we feel in our nose and ears when diving to the bottom of a pool. “It’s a phenomenal force.”
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The water pressure is almost 400 times more than at the ocean’s surface, with approximately 6,000 pounds of force pressing down on the Titan. "If you translate that to a physical force, it's going to be in the order of high thousands of tons to 10,000 tons, so the analogy would be the weight of the Eiffel Tower being the kinds of loads it's experiencing," Blair Thornton, a professor of marine autonomy at the University of Southampton, who has designed and built dozens of robot-operated deep-sea submersibles, told NBC News.
Image credits: oceangateexped
While it’s heartbreaking that those on board the Titan's journey ended this way, Captain Jason Neubauer, Chair of the Marine Board of Investigation is determined to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.
“I am grateful for the coordinated international and interagency support to recover and preserve this vital evidence at extreme offshore distances and depths,” Neubauer shared in a statement. “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.”
Here are some of the first images seen of the wreckage being brought to the surface
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Viewers have been sharing their thoughts on the tragedy as they watch the news unfold
