Authorities have released the first photo of what remained of the Titan on the floor of the North Atlantic Ocean after the submersible imploded last summer while on its way to see the Titanic wreck.
The image, which features the vessel's tail cone embedded into the seabed more than 12,000 feet below the surface, was presented by U.S. Coast Guard officials on Monday, Sept. 16, as part of what is expected to be a two-week hearing into the tragedy.
The photographic evidence, from a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), led to "conclusive evidence of a catastrophic loss" of the Titan and the death of its five passengers, officials said in their presentation.
According to the presentation, the ROV, called the Pelagic Research Services 6000, discovered the aft tail cone and other debris after extensive searching on June 22, 2023, four days after the submersible set off on its voyage to theTitanic.
On board the Titan were noted explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, adventurer Hamish Hardin, father and son Shahzada and Suleiman Dawood and Stockton Rush, who co-founded OceanGate, the company operating the submersible.
In addition to the visual evidence of the catastrophe, an animated video shown at the hearing on Monday detailed what is known about the Titan's final dive, including how it went into the water from the Polar Prince, its support ship, off the coast of Canada around 9:20 a.m. local time on June 18, 2023.
The final messages from the doomed vehicle were also revealed.
After more than 40 minutes of communication, the Polar Prince informed the submersible, “I need better comms from you,” to which the Titan responded “yes” and said they temporarily “lost system oand sic chat settings.”
Nargeolet is believed to have sent the messages, according to the Coast Guard.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
The Polar Prince again asked, “Status? do you see polar prince on your display?” And soon after, the Titan responded “yes” and “all good here” at 10:15 a.m.
Then at 10:47 a.m., the Titan sent another message that it had "dropped two wts,” referring to its weights, but lost contact with the surface seconds after.
Jason Neubauer of the Coast Guard Office of Investigations and Analysis, said at Monday's hearing that they hope to “help shed light on the cause of the tragedy and prevent anything like this from happening again.”
Attorney Jane Shvets, representing OceanGate — which has ceased operations — read a brief opening statement as well in which she echoed that.
She said the company "offers our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones, among them those here today, of those who died on June 18, 2023."
"There are no words to ease the loss endured by the families impacted by this tragic incident," Shvets said, "but we hope that this hearing will help shed light on the cause of the tragedy and prevent anything like this from happening again.
Related Articles
Follow Us
