Probe into sub implosion taking shape
Ongoing search near Titanic puts investigation on back burner for now
A day after revelations that the Titan submersible imploded, officials searched the ocean floor for evidence and grappled Friday with vexing questions about who is responsible for investigating the international disaster.
A formal inquiry has not yet been launched because maritime agencies are still busy searching the area where the vessel fell apart, the U.S. Coast Guard said Friday. Debris was located about 12,500 feet underwater, several hundred feet away from the Titanic wreckage it was on its way to explore. The U.S. Coast Guard led the initial search and rescue mission.
OceanGate Expeditions, the company that owned and operated the Titan, is based in the U.S. but the submersible was registered in the Bahamas.
OceanGate is based in Everett, Wash., but closed when the Titan was found. Meanwhile, the Titan’s mother ship, the Polar Prince, was from Canada, and the people aboard the submersible were from England, Pakistan, France and the U.S.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Friday that the U.S. Coast Guard has declared the loss of the Titan submersible to be a “major marine casualty” and the Coast Guard will lead the investigation. Board spokesperson Peter Knudson said the agency has joined the investigation.
The Coast Guard has not confirmed that it will lead the investigation. Coast Guard headquarters said the Coast Guard First District in Boston will discuss future operations and plans, but did not say when. The First District did not respond to phone and email messages seeking comment Friday.
Meanwhile, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Friday it is launching an investigation into the Polar Prince. Seventeen crew members and 24 others were on board the ship during the Titan’s journey.
The Titan was not registered as a U.S. vessel or with international agencies that regulate safety. And it wasn’t classified by a maritime industry group that sets standards on matters such as hull construction.
After the Titan was reported missing Sunday, the Navy went back and analyzed its acoustic data and found an “anomaly” that was consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general vicinity of where the vessel was operating when communications were lost, said a senior U.S. Navy official.
The Navy passed on the information to the Coast Guard, which continued its search because the data was not considered definitive, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive acoustic detection system.
Condolences for and tributes to those who died flowed in from around the world. Killed in the implosion were OceanGate chief executive Stockton Rush, two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood; British adventurer Hamish Harding and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
At least 46 people successfully traveled on OceanGate’s submersible to the Titanic wreck site in 2021 and 2022, according to letters the company filed with a U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Va., that oversees matters involving the Titanic shipwreck. But questions about the submersible’s safety were raised by both by a former company employee and former passengers.