The US Coast Guard has recovered remaining debris from the Titan submersible, including presumed human remains.
Titan imploded during an expedition to explore the wreck of the Titanic on 18th June 2023. All five people onboard were killed.
Marine safety engineers with the Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) have now recovered and transferred the remaining Titan submersible debris and evidence from the North Atlantic Ocean seafloor.
The salvage mission, conducted under an existing agreement with U.S. Navy Supervisor of Salvage & Diving, was a follow-up to the initial recovery operations which discovered debris and human remains on 22nd June.
Investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada joined the salvage expedition as part of their respective safety investigations.
The recovered evidence was successfully transferred to a U.S. port for cataloging and analysis.
Additional presumed human remains were carefully recovered from within Titan’s debris and transported for analysis by U.S. medical professionals.
The five person crew of Titan included; Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate, the company who operated Titan; Hamish Harding, a British businessman; Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French explorer and Titanic expert; Shahzada Dawood, a Pakistani-British businessman; and Suleman Dawood, Shahzada’s son.
OceanGate was heavily criticized by the submersible community over safety concerns prior to the loss of Titan.
The MBI is coordinating with NTSB and other international investigative agencies to schedule a joint evidence review of recovered Titan debris. This review session will help determine the next steps for necessary forensic testing.
