ocean gate tour of submarine

Patents, lawsuits, safety concerns — then tragedy. A timeline of OceanGate's Titan sub.

A mission to explore the remains of the Titanic went horribly awry on June 18, riveting the world as search crews raced against time to find a submersible that vanished during an attempted dive to the ocean floor, where paying passengers and Stockton Rush III, founder of the submersible company OceanGate, could view the Titanic wreckage.

On Thursday the U.S. Coast Guard announced pieces of the submersible were found scattered across a debris field a third of a mile from the Titanic . OceanGate issued a statement saying, "We grieve the loss of life" of those aboard.

Also aboard the vessel were French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet, British explorer and jet dealer Hamish Harding and Shahzada Dawood of a prominent Pakistani family and his son Suleman.

Records show the tragedy was preceded by a long path toward developing a craft that would reach the ocean depths where the Titanic rests. They also show a history of safety concerns .

Retrace the development of OceanGate, a Bahamian-registered corporation, and its submersibles, and the search for the missing Titan, with this timeline.

2009: OceanGate is founded

A provider of manned deep-sea submersibles, OceanGate starts operations on the West Coast, the company has stated in news releases. Its founder is Stockton Rush III, who graduated from Princeton University with a BSE in aerospace, aeronautical and astronautical engineering in 1984 and obtained an MBA at the University of California Berkeley's Haas School of Business in 1989, according to his biography on OceanGate’s website.

February 2012: OceanGate expands to Florida and the Caribbean

It's registered as a corporation in Miami, with Guillermo Sohnlein as president and Rush as secretary. Documents state the company incorporated in Washington State in Dec. 2011.

May 2013: Collaboration announced with University of Washington

OceanGate says it will collaborate with the school's Applied Physics Lab on Project Cyclops I, a new 3000-meter 5-person submersible. (The University clarified on June 23 that they only completed about $650,000 worth of work on a $5 million research collaborative agreement before parting ways. The collaboration resulted in a steel-hulled vessel that can only travel to a depth of 500 meters, the University stated.)

June 2013: Studies invasive fish

OceanGate teams up with Nova Southeastern University to study invasive lionfish in Florida.

August 2013: Submersible feasibility study concludes

OceanGate announces University of Washington completes design feasibility study for hull design for Cyclops I submersible.

June 2015: Report published on submersible

Rush and science and technology director Erika Montague, publish a report on Cyclops I with Peter Brodsky, an engineer at the University of Washington. 

November 2015: Some of the earliest paying customers sign up for trip

Marc and Sharon Hagle sign a contract and pay $10,000 deposits to OceanGate to participate in an expedition to the Titanic. 

June 2016: OceanGate submersible dives to wreck

One of the company's submersibles dives over the wreck of the Andrea Doria off Nantucket.

March 2017: OceanGate announces Titanic dive

Company announces it will conduct the first manned submersible dives to Titanic since 2005, and that private citizens may join the expedition as mission specialists for $105,129 each.

Mid-2017: Refund or not?

The Hagles begin pondering whether to ask OceanGate for a refund of their deposit. Rush visits their home to reassure them.

August 2017: One step completed

OceanGate completes assembly of core pressure vessel, bonding two titanium rings to the ends of a 56-inch wide, 100-inch-long carbon-fiber cylinder.

January 2018: Launch and recovery testing

OceanGate tweets it successfully tested the launch and recovery platform of Cyclops 2.

February 2018: Cyclops 2 becomes Titan

Engineering team hands over Cyclops 2 to operations team, renames submersible vessel.

The Hagles wire OceanGate an additional $190,258 to pay for their planned Titan expedition. 

March 2018: Safety concerns raised

A trade group, the Marine Technology Society, sends a letter to OceanGate — Reported by the New York Times in June 2023 — to express unanimous concern regarding development of the Titan submersible and its planned Titanic Expedition.

April 2018: Expedition canceled

Hagles say OceanGate cancels June 2-9, 2018 expedition and reschedules it to July 2019.

July 2018: Lawsuit emerges

OceanGate sues former director of marine operations David Lochridge and his wife, Carole Reid Lochridge in Washington state .

August 2018: Safety concerns

Lochridges file a counterclaim in the lawsuit, alleging a series of safety concerns about the Titan submersible .

November 2018: Case dismissed

Parties settle in the OceanGate v. Lochridge case.

December 2018: Another milestone

CBS This Morning publishes a story saying Rush reached a depth of 13,000 feet during a dive in the Titan in the Bahamas, a key milestone in his plan to dive to the Titanic in 2019.

April 2019: A new patent

U.S. Patent Office assigns OceanGate a patent for systems to recover objects in aquatic environments.

June 2019: Expedition delay

OceanGate delays 2019 Titanic expedition, says it will take place in June 2020.

October 2019: Expedition canceled

Hagles receive email saying OceanGate cancels 2020 expedition.

January 2020: Raising money

OceanGate announces it has raised $18 million in equity financing, which it will use to expand its fleet of deep-sea submersibles to set the stage for 2021 dives to the Titanic.

February 2020: NASA to partner

NASA announces it will partner with OceanGate to develop and manufacture new carbon fiber pressure vessels. (NASA told USA TODAY on June 23 that it "consulted on materials and manufacturing processes for the submersible." Lance Davis, acting news chief for the Marshall Space Flight Center, said the agency "did not conduct testing and manufacturing via its workforce or facilities, which were done elsewhere by OceanGate.")

November 2020: Tourist dives to start

Dozens of international news stories say OceanGate will start its first tourist dives to the Titanic in 2021.

March 2021: Astronaut joins expedition

OceanGate and NASA astronaut and physician Dr. Scott Parazynski announce he will join the Titanic expedition. 

May 2021: OceanGate provides plans to federal overseer

The U.S. District Court oversees legal issues involving the Titanic under an open 1993 court case. In May 2021, David Concannon, a legal and operations consultant to OceanGate, sent a letter to the court outlining its expedition plans, saying it will be "the first of many" and will be conducted under NOAA guidelines.

"The exploration team will conduct annual surveys of the wreck in collaboration with scientific and imaging experts from multiple organizations as part of an on-going long-term study to document the current conditionof the Titanic maritime heritage site."

The letter assured the court the vessel would not move or retrieve any artifacts and would deposit any ballast "well clear of the wreck and debris field." It ended with an invitation to the judge to join the expedition as a guest of OceanGate.

June 2021: Another patent

U.S. patent issued to OceanGate for systems and methods for launching and recovering objects in aquatic environments.

July 2021: Titanic success

OceanGate completes its first submersible dive to the Titanic, with a team that includes Rush, Scott Griffith and PH Nargeolet, a former French Naval commander and submersible pilot. The company says a series of yearly expeditions will help record the Titanic’s rate of decay and map the artifacts found on the site.

September 2021: A patent for monitoring integrity

OceanGate receives patent for systems for curing, testing, validating, rating and monitoring the integrity of composite structures.

November 2021: Tickets for sale for next expedition

OceanGate announces 2022 expedition to Titanic , price to ride rises to $250,000. 

May 2022: OceanGate updates court on expedition plans

OceanGate sends a letter notifying the District Court that it plans five photographic and scientific survey "missions" to the wreck site of the Titanic during the summer of 2022 and includes a copy of its draft science plan.

"Every effort will be made to avoid contact with the wreck itself, and no artifacts or scientific samples will be collected from the wreck itself. However, this year the expedition does plan to take free floating water samples throughout the water column and on the bottom, as part of  OceanGate’s scientific efforts to collect environmental DNA in conjunction with its partners at the University of North Carolina and University of Edinburgh."

July 2022: Expedition encounters difficulties

CBS correspondent David Pogue goes on a Titanic expedition with OceanGate . On one dive, the submersible never finds the Titanic .

August 2022: Video shows submersible dive

OceanGate releases high definition video from its 2022 trip to the Titanic.

January 2023: A tally of dives so far

A Guardian story reports OceanGate Expeditions has taken about 60 customers and 15-20 researchers down to the Titanic in its submersible. 

February 2023: Couple alleges fraudulent inducement

The Hagles sue Rush in Orange County, Florida circuit court, alleging fraudulent inducement and violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

April 2023: OceanGate sends 2023 plan to court

Concannon sends a letter to the District Court saying the 2023 expedition will begin in early May and continue in 8-day segments through the end of June.

"Each dive will consist of the deployment of the 5-person submersible Titan, which has a 4,000m/13,120 ft. depth capability (with a comfortable safety margin). Constructed of titanium and filament wound carbon fiber, the innovative vessel has proven to be a safe and comfortable vessel proven to withstand the enormous pressures of the deep ocean," the letter states.

The participating scientists and archaeologists on previous dives "are compiling and analyzing theirfindings. The company and science team collaborated with eDNAtec, headquartered in St. John’s Newfoundland, to analyze environmental DNA found in water samples collected near the wreck and at a natural reef site nearby. This collaboration will continue in 2023. eDNAtec intends to make all gene sequences available through GenBank at the conclusion of their analysis."

May 26, 2023: Titanic expedition underway

Ocean Gate Expeditions tweets a photo of 24 people on deck, saying: "It's been an exciting week with our Mission 2 crew!"

June 1, 2023: In the 'middle of the North Atlantic'

OceanGate Expeditions tweets "Despite being in the middle of the North Atlantic, we have the internet connection we need to make our #Titanic dive operations a success - thank you @Starlink!"

June 15, 2023: Missions underway

OceanGate tweets: "Despite being in the middle of the North Atlantic, we have the internet connection we need to make our #Titanic dive operations a success - thank you @Starlink !"

June 17, 2023: Harding posts dive planned next day

Hamish Harding, chairman of Action Aviation, posts on Facebook that he has joined OceanGate Expeditions for the Titan mission and will be on an attempted dive on June 18.

June 18, 2023: Day ends in disaster

8:00 a.m. – Titan begins a descent from the Canadian research vessel the Polar Prince to the Titanic wreck, a trip expected to take two hours to reach the ocean floor, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

9:45 a.m. – Communications cease between the Titan and its mothership , about 90 minutes into the trip.

Unknown time – Navy acoustic equipment detects an "anomaly" in the vicinity of the site.

3:00 p.m. – Titan fails to appear at the expected time for resurfacing

5:40 p.m. – Coast Guard receives a report on an overdue 21-foot submersible, with five people on board, diving to view the wreckage of the Titanic , approximately 900 nautical miles East of Cape Cod.  

June 19, 2023: Search underway

Coast Guard says one of its C-130 Hercules aircraft and crew, as well as a Canadian P8 aircraft with underwater sonar capability, are searching for the submersible.

June 20, 2023: Hope flares

The Canadian aircraft reports hearing "underwater noises in the search area."

Coast Guard establishes a command to help coordinate multiple vessels conducting search operations, says 10,000 square miles have been searched, including a Bahamian research vessel using a remotely operated vehicle and another C-130 crew. Coast Guard reports eight vessels enroute, including five Canadian ships, a French research vessel, the motor vessel Horizon Arctic and the commercial vessel Skandi Vinland.

June 21, 2023: Search continues

Coast Guard reports a third C-130 enroute, as well as a Magellan ROV. The Navy is sending experts and a Deep Ocean Salvage System designed to lift underwater objects.

June 22, 2023: Debris field located

11:48 a.m. Coast Guard announces a debris field has been discovered by an ROV from the Horizon Arctic near the Titanic, likely the result of a catastrophic implosion.

OceanGate announces the crew of the Titan has been lost.

June 23, 2023: Lawsuit dropped

The Hagles, adventurers who became the first married couple on a commercial spaceflight last year , drop their lawsuit. They state: “Money is a driving force in our economy, but honor, respect and dignity are more important to the human soul."

June 24, 2023: Canada to investigate

Canada's Transportation Safety Board says it will investigate the Polar Prince , Titan's mothership, owned by Horizon Maritime. The company also owns the Horizon Arctic, the ship whose crew found the Titan wreckage.

June 25, 2023: Coast Guard to investigate

The Coast Guard says its Marine Board of Investigation will lead an investigation into the loss of the Titan. The MBI'S chairman, Capt. Jason Neubauer, says his primary goal is to "prevent a similar occurrence by making the necessary recommendations to advance the safety of the maritime domain worldwide."

June 28, 2023: Titan debris recovered

The Horizon Arctic vessel brings pieces of the Titan back to shore in St. John's, Newfoundland. After consulting with international partners, the Coast Guard intends to take the evidence to a U.S. port for further analysis and testing. A news release says medical professionals will conduct " a formal analysis of presumed human remains that have been carefully recovered within the wreckage ."

July 2, 2023: OceanGate shutting down

OceanGate Expeditions updates its website to say it is ceasing operations .

Contributing: Grace Hauck

Missing sub: Mapping and visualizing debris found near titanic

• Share full article

Advertisement

OceanGate Was Warned of Potential for ‘Catastrophic’ Problems With Titanic Mission

Experts inside and outside the company warned of potential dangers and urged the company to undergo a certification process.

By Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs ,  Jenny Gross and Anna Betts

• June 20, 2023

Years before OceanGate’s submersible craft went missing in the Atlantic Ocean with five people onboard, the company faced several warnings as it prepared for its hallmark mission of taking wealthy passengers to tour the Titanic’s wreckage.

It was January 2018, and the company’s engineering team was about to hand over the craft — named Titan — to a new crew who would be responsible for ensuring the safety of its future passengers. But experts inside and outside the company were beginning to sound alarms.

OceanGate’s director of marine operations, David Lochridge, started working on a report around that time, according to court documents, ultimately producing a scathing document in which he said the craft needed more testing and stressed “the potential dangers to passengers of the Titan as the submersible reached extreme depths.”

Two months later, OceanGate faced similarly dire calls from more than three dozen people — industry leaders, deep-sea explorers and oceanographers — who warned in a letter to its chief executive, Stockton Rush, that the company’s “experimental” approach and its decision to forgo a traditional assessment could lead to potentially “catastrophic” problems with the Titanic mission.

Now, as the international search for the craft enters another day, more is coming to light about the warnings leveled at OceanGate as the company raced to provide extreme tourism for the wealthy.

A spokesman for OceanGate declined to comment on the five-year-old critiques from Mr. Lochridge and the industry leaders. Nor did Mr. Lochridge respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Rush, the company’s chief executive, is one of the passengers on the vessel and was serving as its pilot when it went missing on Sunday, the company said on Tuesday.

An aerospace engineer and pilot, he founded the company, based in Everett, Wash., in 2009. For the past three years, he has charged up to $250,000 per person for a chance to visit the wreckage of the Titanic, which sank in 1912 on its inaugural trip from England to New York.

The critiques from Mr. Lochridge and the experts who signed the 2018 letter to Mr. Rush were focused in part on what they characterized as Mr. Rush’s refusal to have the Titan inspected and certified by one of the leading agencies that do such work.

Mr. Lochridge reported in court records that he had urged the company to do so, but that he had been told that OceanGate was “unwilling to pay” for such an assessment. After getting Mr. Lochridge’s report, the company’s leaders held a tense meeting to discuss the situation, according to court documents filed by both sides. The documents came in a lawsuit that OceanGate filed against Mr. Lochridge in 2018, accusing him of sharing confidential information outside the company.

In the documents, Mr. Lochridge reported learning that the viewport that lets passengers see outside the craft was only certified to work in depths of up to 1,300 meters.

That is far less than would be necessary for trips to the Titanic, which is nearly 4,000 meters below the ocean’s surface.

“The paying passengers would not be aware, and would not be informed, of this experimental design,” lawyers for Mr. Lochridge wrote in a court filing.

The meeting led OceanGate to fire Mr. Lochridge, according to court documents filed by both sides. OceanGate has said in court records that he was not an engineer, that he refused to accept information from the company’s engineering team and that acoustic monitoring of the hull’s strength was better than the kind of testing that Mr. Lochridge felt was necessary.

The company said in its lawsuit that it appeared Mr. Lochridge was trying to be fired. Mr. Lochridge responded by alleging wrongful termination. The legal battle ended in a settlement later in 2018.

The separate warning that OceanGate received that same year came from 38 experts in the submersible craft industry; all of them were members of the Manned Underwater Vehicles committee of the Marine Technology Society, a 60-year-old industry group that promotes, studies and teaches the public about ocean technology. The experts wrote in their letter to Mr. Rush that they had “unanimous concern” about the way the Titan had been developed, and about the planned missions to the Titanic wreckage.

The letter said that OceanGate’s marketing of the Titan had been “at minimum, misleading” because it claimed that the submersible would meet or exceed the safety standards of a risk assessment company known as DNV, even though the company had no plans to have the craft formally certified by the agency.

“Their plan of not following classification guidelines was considered very risky,” Will Kohnen, the chairman of the committee, said in an interview on Tuesday.

The industry leaders said in their letter that OceanGate should, at minimum, test its prototypes under the watch of DNV or another leading certification company.

“While this may demand additional time and expense,” the signatories wrote, “it is our unanimous view that this validation process by a third-party is a critical component in the safeguards that protect all submersible occupants.”

Mr. Kohnen said that Mr. Rush called him after reading the letter and told him that industry standards were stifling innovation.

In an unsigned 2019 blog post titled “Why Isn’t Titan Classed?,” the company made similar arguments. OceanGate said in the post that because its Titan craft was so innovative, it could take years to get it certified by the usual assessment agencies. “Bringing an outside entity up to speed on every innovation before it is put into real-world testing is anathema to rapid innovation,” the company wrote.

Another signatory of the 2018 letter, Bart Kemper, said in an interview that OceanGate had avoided having to abide by certain U.S. regulations by deploying the vessel in international waters, where Coast Guard rules did not apply.

“This letter was basically asking them to please do what the other submarines do, especially the passenger ones,” said Mr. Kemper, a forensic engineer who works on submarine designs.

Submersibles, unlike boats and other vessels, are largely unregulated, particularly when they operate in international waters, said Salvatore Mercogliano, an associate professor of maritime history at Campbell University in North Carolina.

Because the Titan is loaded onto a Canadian ship and then dropped into the North Atlantic near the Titanic, he said, it does not need to register with a country, fly a flag or follow rules that apply to many other vessels.

“It’s kind of like a boat on the back of a trailer,” Mr. Mercogliano said. “The police will ensure the trailer meets the requirements to be on the road, but they really won’t do a boat inspection.”

The Passenger Vessel Safety Act of 1993, which regulates submersibles that carry passengers and requires that they be registered with the Coast Guard, does not apply to the Titan because it does not fly an American flag or operate in American waters, he said.

Mr. Rush has spoken publicly in the past about what he viewed as regulatory red tape in the industry.

“There hasn’t been an injury in the commercial sub industry in over 35 years,” he told Smithsonian magazine in a profile published in 2019 . “It’s obscenely safe because they have all these regulations. But it also hasn’t innovated or grown — because they have all these regulations.”

In a CBS report last year, David Pogue, a former New York Times technology columnist, joined one of OceanGate’s Titanic expeditions and said the paperwork that he signed before getting onboard warned that the Titan was an “experimental vessel” that had not been “approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, emotional trauma or death.”

OceanGate has made two previous expeditions to the Titanic site, in 2021 and 2022, and said in a May blog post that it “always expects new challenges” with each trip. “We’re starting our Titanic Expedition earlier than usual and have been tracking all the social media posts showing icebergs and sea ice in the area,” the post read.

The earlier trips, while largely successful, were not without problems.

In February, a couple in Florida sued Mr. Rush, saying that his company refused to refund them the $105,000 that they each paid to visit the Titanic on the Titan in 2018. The trip was postponed several times, according to the suit, in part because the company said it needed to run more tests on the Titan. The couple claimed that Mr. Rush reneged on his promise of giving them a refund and that the company instead demanded that they participate in a July 2021 voyage to the wreckage.

The lawsuit is pending and Mr. Rush has not responded to it. Court records do not list a lawyer representing him in that case.

In a court filing last year, OceanGate referenced some technical issues with the Titan during the 2021 trip.

“On the first dive to the Titanic, the submersible encountered a battery issue and had to be manually attached to its lifting platform,” the company’s legal and operational adviser, David Concannon, wrote in the document, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, which oversees matters having to do with the Titanic. The submersible sustained modest damage to its exterior, he wrote, leading OceanGate to cancel the mission so it could make repairs.

Still, Mr. Concannon wrote in the filing, 28 people were able to visit the Titanic wreckage on the Titan last year.

Mr. Concannon invited the federal judge who was hearing the case, Rebecca Beach Smith, to join the company for an expedition, according to a separate filing, something the judge seemed interested in doing.

“Perhaps, if another expedition occurs in the future, I will be able to do so,” the judge wrote in May, adding that after many years of hearing cases about the Titanic wreckage, “that opportunity would be quite informative and present a first ‘eyes on’ view of the wreck site by the court.”

Kitty Bennett and Susan C. Beachy contributed research. Mike Baker and Shawn Hubler contributed reporting.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs reports on national news. He is from upstate New York and previously reported in Baltimore, Albany, and Isla Vista, Calif. More about Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

Jenny Gross is a general assignment reporter. Before joining The Times, she covered British politics for The Wall Street Journal. More about Jenny Gross

Anna Betts is a reporter for the National desk and a member of the 2023-2024 New York Times Fellowship class. More about Anna Betts

What it was like inside the Titanic submersible: ‘As much room as a minivan’

Sunday’s trip by the submersible vessel in which all five passengers onboard died was one of a number of expeditions that OceanGate, the company operating the vessel, had sent to the Titanic wreck site with paying guests.

The trips to the wreckage took eight days, and passengers had little room to maneuver aboard the Titan . Here is what we know about the submersible’s past voyages to see the remains of the famous ship.

Eight days at sea — and a 2.4-mile descent

The expeditions to the Titanic wreckage cost $250,000 and were open to passengers age 17 and older, according to OceanGate. The Titan was 22 feet long and weighed 23,000 pounds, according to the company’s website .

Passengers set sail from St. John’s, on the eastern tip of Canada’s Newfoundland island, and traveled aboard a larger vessel for two days until they reached the site of the wreck. At that point, they entered the submersible in groups to go down to see the wreckage at a depth of 12,500 feet, or about 2.4 miles. Unlike a submarine, a submersible must be supported by a surface vessel, platform, shore team or sometimes a larger submarine.

Descents to the Titanic wreck depended on weather but could have begun as early as the third day of the expedition, OceanGate said.

“Once the submersible is launched you will begin to see alienlike life forms whizz by the viewport as you sink deeper and deeper into the ocean,” OceanGate said on its website before the Titan was lost. “The descent takes approximately two hours but it feels like the blink of an eye.”

According to the company’s itinerary, groups could spend hours exploring the wreckage and surrounding debris before beginning the two-hour return trip.

Bolted from the outside, steered by a video game controller

Footage from previous expeditions shared by the company shows the Titan’s tubelike interior, equipped with a large viewport to allow passengers to see the wreckage.

The video recording shows a toilet on the submersible that the company’s website said was separated from the rest of the capsule by a privacy curtain when in use. “We do recommend that you restrict your diet before and during the dive to reduce the likelihood that you will need to use the facilities,” it said.

According to CBS News correspondent David Pogue , who traveled on the Titan last year, the submersible had “about as much room as a minivan.” Passengers had to take their shoes off before entering, he said. Then the crew used 17 bolts to seal the hatch from the outside: “There’s no other way out.”

Who is Hamish Harding, tycoon and adventurer on the missing Titanic sub?

Pogue told the BBC after news of the Titan’s disappearance that many of the components on the submersible appeared to be makeshift or purchased off the shelf.

“For example, you steer this sub with a game controller, an Xbox game controller,” he said. “Some of the ballast is abandoned construction pipes that are sitting on shelves on the side of the thing, and the way you detach the ballast is you get everybody on board to lean to one side of the sub and they roll off.”

What to know about the missing submersible

Pogue recalled that chief executive and founder Stockton Rush reassured him that NASA and the University of Washington were involved in the capsule’s design, adding: “It’s rock solid.”

It’s not clear whether the same controller and ballast were used in Sunday’s expedition. However, OceanGate has said that off-the-shelf components “helped to streamline the construction, and makes it simple to operate and replace parts in the field.”

The submersible was equipped with a 96-hour supply of oxygen when it descended, said David Concannon, an adviser to OceanGate, according to the Associated Press .

Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger said Thursday that the vessel suffered a catastrophic loss of pressure that imploded it, killing everyone inside.

What would have happened in an emergency?

Pogue said that during one attempted descent to the wreck last year, communication between the larger surface ship and the submersible briefly broke down, meaning his group could not locate the wreck, he said. “We were lost for 2½ hours.”

OceanGate said earlier this month that it was relying on technology from Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, to ensure communications during this year’s expedition.

According to OceanGate’s website, the submersible was fitted with a health monitoring system, which enabled the pilot to analyze the effects of changing pressure and assess the vessel’s structural integrity.

‘Astonishing’ 3D scans reveal Titanic shipwreck in extraordinary new detail

Missing Titanic submersible

The latest: After an extensive search, the Coast Guard found debris fields that have been indentified as the Titan submersible. OceanGate, the tour company, has said all 5 passengers are believed dead.

The Titan: The voyage to see the Titanic wreckage is eight days long, costs $250,000 and is open to passengers age 17 and older. The Titan is 22 feet long, weighs 23,000 pounds and “has about as much room as a minivan,” according to CBS correspondent David Pogue. Here’s what we know about the missing submersible .

The search: The daunting mission covers the ocean’s surface and the vast depths beneath. The search poses unique challenges that are further complicated by the depths involved. This map shows the scale of the search near the Titanic wreckage .

The passengers: Hamish Harding , an aviation businessman, aircraft pilot and seasoned adventurer, posted on Instagram that he was joining the expedition and said retired French navy commander Paul-Henri Nargeolet was also onboard. British Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son, Suleman, 19, were also on the expedition, their family confirmed. The CEO of OceanGate , the submersible expedition company, was also on the vessel. Here’s what we know about the five missing passengers.

Watch CBS News

What we know about the tourist sub that disappeared on an expedition to the Titanic

By Emily Mae Czachor

Updated on: June 23, 2023 / 11:35 PM EDT / CBS News

Five people on board the tourist  submarine that disappeared  on an expedition to explore the  Titanic shipwreck  over the weekend did not survive a "catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber," officials said Thursday.

The announcement came after the U.S. Coast Guard said the  massive search  underway in the North Atlantic had located a debris field on the sea floor, which was confirmed to be pieces of the missing sub .

"The debris field is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel," Rear Adm. John Mauger of the Coast Guard said at a briefing, offering "deepest condolences to the families." A spokesperson for OceanGate Expeditions, the company behind the voyage, told reporters that the passengers, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, "have sadly been lost."

Here's what we know so far about the submersible craft and what led up to this point.

What happened?

A five-person crew on a submersible named Titan, owned by OceanGate Expeditions, submerged on a dive to the Titanic wreckage site Sunday morning, and the crew of the Polar Prince research ship lost contact with the sub about an hour and 45 minutes later, the Coast Guard   said . 

The Coast Guard first alerted mariners about the missing sub Sunday night, saying a "21 foot submarine" with a white hull was overdue and giving its last known position. "VESSELS IN VICINITY REQUESTED TO KEEP A SHARP LOOKOUT, ASSIST IF POSSIBLE," the alert message read.

The sub was lost in an area about 900 miles east of Cape Cod, in the North Atlantic, in water with a depth of about 13,000 feet, which is about level with the depth of the Titanic wreck . Amid growing concern about its  dwindling supply of breathable air , search and rescue efforts by a unified command composed of several international agencies ramped up accordingly.

The five people aboard included an operator — later identified as Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions — and four mission specialists, a term the company uses for its passengers, who paid up to $250,000 for a seat.

For days, the fate of the sub and its passengers was a mystery.

But after the debris was found, a U.S. Navy official said the Navy had detected "an acoustic anomaly consistent with an implosion" shortly after the sub lost contact with the surface Sunday, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reported. The information was relayed to the Coast Guard, which used it to narrow the radius of the search area, the official said.

Such an implosion, under the intense pressure of the depths of the sea , would have destroyed the vessel almost instantly, experts explained.

"in a fraction of a second, it's gone," Will Kohnen, chairman of the professional group the Marine Technology Society Submarine Committee, told the Reuters news agency. 

"It implodes inwards in a matter of a thousandth of a second," Kohnen said. "And it's probably a mercy, because that was probably a kinder end than the unbelievably difficult situation of being four days in a cold, dark and confined space. So, this would have happened very quickly. I don't think anybody even had the time to realize what happened." 

The Coast Guard is leading the investigation into the incident, and the National Transportation Safety Board  said Friday  it will assist.   

Who were the passengers aboard the sub? 

CBS News confirmed that the five people aboard the submersible were  Hamish Harding , a 59-year-old British billionaire, business owner and explorer; British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman; French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, who had made multiple dives over the years to explore the Titanic; and Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, who was serving as pilot.

Just ahead of the Coast Guard briefing Thursday afternoon, a statement issued by OceanGate spokesperson Andrew Von Kerens offered condolences to the families of the Titan crew and recognized that all five people on board the submersible were believed to be dead.

"These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans," the company said in the statement. "Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew."

When the Coast Guard confirmed the sub's likely implosion on Thursday, Mauger said they were communicating with consulates general in both the U.K. and France.

The Dawood family, of the large Pakistan-based global business conglomerate Dawood Group, issued a statement Tuesday confirming their family members were on the expedition.

"Please continue to keep the departed souls and our family in your prayers during this difficult time of mourning," the Hussain and Kulsum Dawood family said Thursday in a statement through the Dawood Foundation. "We are truly grateful to all those involved in the rescue operations. ... The immense love and support we receive continues to help us endure this unimaginable loss."

Nargeolet, a renowned French explorer and former diver for the French Navy who was part of the first expedition to visit the Titanic wreck in 1987, was returning for another dive aboard the Titan submersible. 

In a  Facebook  post on Monday, Rory Golden, an explorer who became the first Irish diver to visit the Titanic wreckage in 2000, said he was part of the voyage but was not on the submersible that went missing.

Search and rescue efforts

Authorities  said  early Thursday morning that a Canadian vessel, Horizon Arctic, had deployed a  remotely operated underwater vehicle that reached the sea floor . The ROV ultimately located what the Coast Guard originally described as a debris field on the sea floor, which included identifiable pieces of the sub, authorities confirmed that afternoon.

"This morning, an ROV, or remote operated vehicle, from the vessel Horizon Arctic, discovered the tail cone of the Titan submersible approximately 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic on the sea floor," said Mauger at a news briefing. "The ROV subsequently found additional debris. In consultation with experts from within the unified command, the debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber."

"Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families," he added. "On behalf of the United States Coast Guard and the entire unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families. I can only imagine what this has been like for them and I hope that this discovery provides some solace during this difficult time."

Mauger said authorities were "still working to develop the details for the timeline involved with this casualty and the response," and referenced the "incredibly complex operating environment along the sea floor, over two miles beneath the surface."

Paul Hankins, an undersea expert for the U.S. Navy, explained during the news conference that crews discovered "five different major pieces of debris that told us that it was the remains of the Titan." These pieces included, initially, the nose cone, which was outside of the pressure hull. 

"We then found a large debris field," Hankins said. "Within that large debris field, we found the front end bell of the pressure hull. That was our first indication that there was a catastrophic event."

A second, smaller debris field was located shortly after, and the debris found there "comprised the totality of that pressure vessel," Hankins said. 

"The debris field is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel," he said, adding that the team will continue to map the debris field area.

Asked by a reporter what the prospects were for recovering the passengers, Mauger said, "This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor, and the debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel. So we'll continue to work and continue to search the area down there, but I don't have an answer for prospects at this time."

Discovering the Titan debris came after multiple agencies from the U.S. and Canada spent days scouring thousands of square miles of open ocean in search of the missing sub.

The U.S. Coast Guard announced Wednesday that  underwater noises were detected  in the search area and that searches involving ROVs were  focusing on the area where the noises were heard .

On Wednesday, three more vessels had arrived to join the search, including one with side-scan sonar capabilities designed to create images of large sections of the sea floor, the Coast Guard said in a  tweet . That vessel began conducting search patterns alongside at least two others, as multiple military and other agencies worked together under a unified command. 

Frederick said Wednesday there were five "surface assets" involved in the search , and another five were expected to join the operation within the next 24 to 48 hours. He said the team also had two ROVs "actively searching," with several more due to arrive to join the search Thursday.

The Coast Guard  said  it had C-130 aircraft searching for the sub, and that the Rescue Coordination Center Halifax was assisting with a P-8 Poseidon aircraft, which has underwater detection capabilities. Canadian P-3s were also involved in the operation and deployed sonar buoys.

Just after midnight Wednesday, officials said  aircraft had detected underwater noises  in the search area, and underwater search operations were relocated as a result, though the origin of the noises remained unknown. The sounds were picked up several times Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, according to the Coast Guard. 

"With respect to the noises, specifically, we don't know what they are, to be frank with you," Frederick said. "The P-3 detected noises, that's why they're up there, that's why they're doing what they're doing, that's why there are sonar buoys in the water."

News of the vanished submersible and subsequent rescue mission originally broke Monday morning. At the time, Lt. Jordan Hart of the Coast Guard in Boston told CBS News that personnel there were leading the rescue mission, and focusing on waters off Newfoundland in eastern Canada. 

The Boston Regional Coordination Center was managing the rescue operation, as the location of the Titanic shipwreck falls within the Boston coordination center's territory, according to a  map  of jurisdictions along the East Coast of North America.

That combined search area grew to about twice the size of the state of Connecticut, and the subsurface search extended down as far as 2 and a half miles deep, Frederick said, stressing that the search and rescue teams were dealing with an incredibly complex set of circumstances.

"We also have to factor in the ever-changing weather conditions, currents and sea states that expand the search area every hour," he said earlier in the week. "There's an enormous complexity associated with this case due to the location being so far offshore and the coordination between multiple agencies and nations. We greatly appreciate the outpouring of support and offers to provide additional equipment."

What caused the noises?

Frederick acknowledged that the sounds detected underwater by Canadian aircraft could have been caused by multiple sources. 

Following the discovery of the sub debris on the sea floor, a U.S. Navy source told CBS News that the implosion would be inconsistent with banging noises heard at 30-minute intervals. Those noises, the official said, are now assessed as having come from other ships in the area.

Carl Hartsfield, an expert in underwater acoustics and the director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which is on-site at the search area as a consultant, explained that it can be challenging to differentiate between "human sounds" and "nature sounds" coming from beneath the surface.

"The ocean is a very complex place, obviously, human sounds, nature sounds, and it's very difficult to discern what the sources of those noises are at times," Hartsfield said. 

Before the sub was found, Chris Roman, an associate professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, told CBS News that, technically, it was possible that sounds from inside a submersible could have been detected, but that wasn't the only potential source of the noise.

"Sound travels very efficiently underwater. If people were intentionally making noises within the sub, it's very likely they could be detected with a sound buoy, and that position can be translated into a new search area," Roman said. But he also noted that, as Frederick mentioned in his briefing, "there's a lot of other things in the ocean that make noises."

The submarine

The unique submersible craft that disappeared was owned by OceanGate Expeditions , a company that deploys manned submarines for deep sea exploration and has in the past advertised this particular sub's voyages to carry tourists down to the wreckage of the RMS Titanic for $250,000 per seat. 

More than a century after the Titanic sank in April 1912, the wreck lies on the ocean floor about 400 miles southeast of the Newfoundland coast. 

OceanGate said recently on its website and on social media that its expedition to the shipwreck was "underway," describing the seven-night trip as a "chance to step outside of everyday life and discover something truly extraordinary." In addition to one ongoing expedition, the company had planned two others for the summer of next year, according to the site. 

Because of the sub's oxygen capacity, it can only be fully submerged for a portion of the weeklong voyage. The sub has emergency oxygen and a 96-hour sustainment capability if there's an emergency aboard, Mauger said.

In a statement Monday after news broke of the missing sub, OceanGate confirmed the missing submersible was theirs and that a rescue operation had been launched to find and recover it. The company said it was "exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely." 

"For some time, we have been unable to establish communications with one of our submersible exploration vehicles which is currently visiting the wreck site of the Titanic," said Andrew Von Kerens, a spokesperson for OceanGate. "We pray for the safe return of the crew and passengers, and we will provide updates as they are available."

Inside the Titan

Dubbed the Titan, OceanGate's deep sea vessel, was said to be the only five-person submersible in the world with the capabilities to reach the Titanic's depth, nearly 2 and a half miles beneath the ocean's surface, CBS "Sunday Mornings" correspondent David Pogue reported last year. 

BBC News reported that the vessel typically carries a pilot, three paying guests and another person described as a "content expert" by the company.  OceanGate's site says the Titan, weighing around 23,000 pounds, has the ability to reach depths of up to 4,000 meters — over 13,000 feet — and has about 96 hours of life support for a crew of five people.

Last summer, Pogue accompanied the Titan crew on the journey from Newfoundland to the site where the Titanic as lost. Several dive attempts had to be canceled when weather conditions indicated it may not be safe. At the time, he described the Titan as a one-of-a-kind submersible craft made from thick carbon fiber and coated on both ends by a dome of titanium. 

In 2018, a former employee of OceanGate Expeditions, submersible pilot David Lochridge, voiced concerns about the safety of the Titanic tour sub and filed a lawsuit against the company . 

Lochridge, who was fired by OceanGate and sued by the company for allegedly disclosing confidential information in a whistleblower complaint to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said in a court filing that the Titan would carry passengers as deep as 4,000 meters even though that depth had never been reached in a sub with its type of carbon fiber hull. According to his claim, he learned the vessel was built to withstand a certified pressure of 1,300 meters, although OceanGate planned to take passengers to 4,000 meters.  

Lochridge was not the only skeptic. The same year his complaint was filed, other industry leaders approached OceanGate with questions about the safety of its submersible. William Kohnen, president and CEO of Hydrospace Group, outlined his concerns in a 2018 letter to OceanGate, originally published by The New York Times, that warned of potentially "catastrophic" issues with the "experimental" sub, which was not certified. Kohnen told CBS News on Wednesday that although he did not send it, the letter was leaked to OceanGate and prompted the company to "amend a number of details that made sure the public knew" the submersible had not received its certification.

"The letter to Oceangate was meant as a professional courtesy to the CEO expressing industry concerns that the company was not following a traditional classification route for the certification of the submersible," Kohnen said. "The industry operates along an established and dynamic set of safety regulations and protocols that have served the submersible industry worldwide."

Ahead of his planned dive last summer, Pogue recalled signing paperwork that read, in part, "This experimental vessel has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, emotional trauma, or death." 

Space inside the submarine was similar to the interior of a minivan, and, with just one button and a video game controller used to steer it, the vessel "seemed improvised, with off-the-shelf components," Pogue said.

On his voyage, the  sub was lost for a few hours , Pogue said.

"There's no GPS underwater, so the surface ship is supposed to guide the sub to the shipwreck by sending text messages," he reported at the time. "But on this dive, communications somehow broke down."

You may remember that the @OceanGateExped sub to the #Titanic got lost for a few hours LAST summer, too, when I was aboard…Here’s the relevant part of that story. https://t.co/7FhcMs0oeH pic.twitter.com/ClaNg5nzj8 — David Pogue (@Pogue) June 19, 2023

Were conditions right for the dive?

G. Michael Harris, founder of RMS Titanic, Inc. — a company that salvages artifacts from the Titanic wreckage — told CBS News on Tuesday evening that Titanic expeditions are generally conducted within a "three-month weather window" between the end of June and September, when the ocean waters are at their calmest.

Harris, who has led several expeditions to the wreckage site, questioned why the Titan's dive was conducted as early as Sunday.

"Right now, it's really early in the season. I'm not sure why OceanGate went out this soon," Harris said.

Harris also noted that when he conducts diving expeditions, he uses a transponder system, something that he believed the Titan likely did not have.

"It's a net that we navigate in so that we know where we are at all times on the wreck of the Titanic," Harris said. "We're in constant communication with the vessel up top."

Harris said the Titan was "put on a sled and dumped in the water and their only navigation is from the support ship up top."

"I don't adhere to that myself, personally," Harris said. 

Harris noted that he has worked with Nargeolet, who is listed as director of underwater research for RMS Titanic, for the past 30 years, describing him as an "all-around good guy."

Who was Hamish Harding?

Harding, the first of the passengers to be publicly identified, had previously posted on social media about joining the Titanic shipwreck expedition.

In a post shared to his  Facebook  page on Saturday, Harding wrote: "I am proud to finally announce that I joined OceanGate Expeditions for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic."

I am proud to finally announce that I joined OceanGate Expeditions for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist... Posted by Hamish Harding on  Saturday, June 17, 2023

"Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023," Harding's Facebook post continued. "A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow. We started steaming from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada yesterday and are planning to start dive operations around 4am tomorrow morning. Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do."

That post was Harding's most recent social media update related to the submarine trip. It included multiple photographs of him, including one that showed Harding signing his name on a banner that read "Titanic Expedition Mission V" and another that pictured the submersible vessel itself.

Richard Garriott de Cayeux, president of The Explorers Club, where Harding helped found the board of trustees, said they had spoken just a week earlier about the expedition. 

"When I saw Hamish last week at the Global Exploration Summit, his excitement about this expedition was palpable. I know he was looking forward to conducting research at the site," he said in a letter to club members after the sub's disappearance.

Harding was a veteran adventure tourist who also  traveled to space  aboard a Blue Origin rocket last year. Two years ago, he made it to the deepest part of the ocean, traveling with U.S. explorer  Victor Vescovo  to the floor of the Mariana Trench, 35,876 feet below the sea surface. That trip, in a $48 million submersible, earned both explorers the Guinness World Record for the  longest distance traveled  at the deepest part of the ocean by a crewed vessel.

"It was potentially scary, but I was so busy doing so many things — navigating and triangulating my position — that I did not really have time to be scared," Harding told  The Week  after that excursion.

This is an updated version of an article originally published on Monday, June 19. Reporting contributed by Emmet Lyons, Roxana Saberi, Alex Sundby, Aimee Picchi, Aliza Chasan, Li Cohen, Caroline Hinson, Anna Noryskiewicz, Analisa Novak and other CBS News staff.

• Newfoundland
• United States Coast Guard

Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She covers breaking news, often focusing on crime and extreme weather. Emily Mae has previously written for outlets including the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.

More from CBS News

What is OceanGate? Meet the company that made a business out of risky deep-sea tours of the Titanic shipwreck.

• OceanGate is a private research and ocean tourism company founded by CEO Stockton Rush.
• The company has attracted renewed scrutiny since its submersible vessel, Titan, went missing Sunday.
• The five passengers in the vessel, including Rush, were embarking on a Titanic tour.

The search is on for a submersible vessel containing five passengers that was destined for the Titanic ship wreckage before it went missing on Sunday. The vessel at the center of the search mission, called the Titan, is from OceanGate Expeditions, a private research and ocean adventure tourism company. 

As of Wednesday, the vessel hasn't been located, but the five passengers on board have been identified, including Stockton Rush — the OceanGate CEO and founder behind the ocean tourism company.

What is OceanGate?

OceanGate was founded in 2009, with a focus on "increasing access to the deep ocean through innovation of the next generation of crewed submersibles and launch platforms," according to the company's website. The private company is based out of Everett, Washington, and had 47 employees as of April, and has raised a total of $36.81 million in funding, according to data from Pitchbook.

Along with the Titanic expedition tour, the company offers weekly research opportunities to explore the ocean and observe marine life.

Its CEO and founder Rush, who was identified as one of the passengers aboard the missing vessel, has repeatedly stressed a need for balancing safety measures with risk — a point that has gained renewed scrutiny since the vessel went missing. 

Rush, 61, grew up in a wealthy family and originally dreamed of becoming an astronaut, The Smithsonian Magazine reported in 2019. As a student at Princeton University, he told the publication that he juggled his studies in aerospace engineering and work as a commercial pilot.

Rush had a stint working as a flight test engineer for McDonnell Douglas Corporation, before going on to earn a masters in business from the University of California, The Seattle Times reported . Then Rush's plans changed: Rush, who long enjoyed scuba diving, wanted to explore the ocean, The Smithsonian reported. 

Related stories

In an interview with CBS reporter David Pogue in November of last year, Rush said that "You know, at some point, safety is just pure waste. I mean, if you just want to be safe, don't get out of bed, don't get in your car, don't do anything. At some point, you're going to take some risk, and it really is a risk-reward question." 

The company has also dodged safety rules by operating its exhibitions in international waters, experts previously told Insider. In 2019, OceanGate also said its Titan submersible was not checked to verify the vessel met industry standards, because of its "innovation" and that some of the designs could take years to approve.

In 2018, OceanGate faced a lawsuit from former employee David Lochridge, who said he warned about quality and safety issues related to the Titan vessel. The lawsuit filing claimed that "paying passengers would not be aware, and would not be informed, of this experimental design, the lack of non-destructive testing of the hull, or that hazardous flammable materials were being used within the submersible." In November 2018, an out-of-court settlement was reached.

The Titanic shipwreck expeditions

OceanGate has been conducting expeditions of the Titanic ship wreckage since 2021, according to the company's website . These tours can take five people, one pilot and four crew members, in a submersible vessel down to depths of around 13,000 feet into the ocean, according to the website . The tour has also been reported to cost $250,000 per person. 

The Titanic tour, which happens annually, runs 10 days in total and starts out near the city of St. John's in Newfoundland, where passengers then embark on 8 days of travel at sea, according to the company's website. 

CBS News reporter David Pogue, who previously reported on OceanGate and spent time aboard a Titanic tour, told CBS on Tuesday that the Titan is one of the only vessels in the world capable of reaching the depth of the shipwreck. Over the last three summers, OceanGate has conducted about 25 trips down to the wreckage, Pogue said in the interview. 

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for OceanGate told Insider the company was "unable to provide any additional information at this time."

What is the OceanGate Titan?

The OceanGate submersible used on these Titanic expeditions, called the Titan, is also distinctly different from a submarine : a submersible is launched into the water from a separate ship, does not have a power port, and is smaller than a submarine. 

The submersible is also steered with a video game controller , similar to some US Navy submarine designs that use Xbox 360 controllers. While the design may initially raise some eyebrows, the game controller can make submersibles more reliable, Harvard marine scientist Peter Girguis told Insider .

To go on the trip, crew members need to sign waivers that clearly outline the risks of death . A former passenger on OceanGate's Titan , Mike Reiss told the BBC that "As I was getting onto the sub, that was my thought: 'Well, this could be the end.'"

"So nobody who's in this situation was caught off guard," Reiss, who went on an OceanGate's trip in 2022, told the BBC . "You all know what you are getting into."

Watch: Titan sub raised red flags long before it went missing

• Main content

• International

June 21, 2023 - Missing Titanic sub search news

By Helen Regan , Jessie Yeung , Adam Renton, Ivana Kottasová , Rob Picheta , Ed Upright, Adrienne Vogt , Aditi Sangal , Elise Hammond and Tori B. Powell , CNN

No seats and one toilet: What it's like inside the submersible

From CNN staff

The missing submersible is a small vessel designed to only hold five people for a day — two hours down, several hours exploring the Titanic and two hours back to the surface.

Last year, the founder of tour operator OceanGate Expeditions showed a CBS team the inside of a submersible used to visit the Titanic's wreckage. The CBS video shows a small chamber, with about as much space as a minivan.

There are no chairs or seats and the passengers sit cross-legged on the floor, having taken off their shoes before entering.

For such an advanced submersible, the interior is mostly bare and simple, with just one button and a screen on the wall. The rest of the vessel's operations are run on a handheld controller that looks remarkably similar to a gaming console, complete with colorful buttons.

There's only one small toilet in the vessel's front, which "doubles as the best seat in the house," according to an OceanGate webpage that's no longer available. It added that when the toilet is being used, they install a privacy curtain "and turn the music up loud."

It recommended that passengers restrict their diet before and during the dive "to reduce the likelihood that you will need to use the facilities."

Watch the video:

Race for specialized deep sea and salvage equipment as search enters fourth day

As the search for the missing submersible enters its fourth day, multiple agencies are racing against time to get the specialized equipment needed for their efforts.

While a lot of the search has been focused on the surface of the water, the team now has underwater search capability on scene, US Coast Guard First District Commander Rear Adm. John Mauger said Tuesday.

If search crews locate the missing submersible deep in the ocean, authorities will then face a highly complex mission to recover the craft and any survivors.

The Titanic wreckage lies around 12,500 feet below sea level — about 10 times the height of the Empire State Building.

Here's where the search is on Day 4:

• Joint operation: The US Coast Guard has been coordinating with the US Navy and Canadian Coast Guard since Sunday. Due to its familiarity with the site, submersible operator OceanGate is helping to set priorities, Mauger said. The US Coast Guard said a Bahamian research vessel was also conducting remotely operated vehicle (ROV) operations.
• Pipe-laying vessel: On Tuesday, the vessel Deep Energy , a 194-meter pipe-laying vessel with underwater capabilities, arrived on scene and rendezvoused with the Polar Prince, the vessel the submersible launched from at its last known position, said Capt. Jamie Frederick, with the First Coast Guard District.
• Assets en route: Other vessels are on the way, including some privately owned crafts that are "making preparations" to help with the "very complex" search, Mauger said. The US Coast Guard said additional assets joining include several Canadian vessels such as a ship with a mobile decompression chamber and medical personnel.
• International help: French President Emmanuel Macron has ordered the dispatch of the research ship Atalante to join the search, which is equipped with an underwater robot that can reach as deep as 4,000 meters [13,000 feet].
• Deep ocean salvage: The US Navy is sending experts and a Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System to assist. The FADOSS is a "motion compensated lift system designed to provide reliable deep ocean lifting capacity for the recovery of large, bulky, and heavy undersea objects such as aircraft or small vessels." A Navy information page on the FADOSS says it can lift up to 60,000 pounds.
• Magellan ROVs: Deep sea-mapping company Magellan, best known for its  imagery of the Titanic and whose deep sea diving equipment is able to reach the depths, is trying to get involved in the search. But most of that equipment is in Europe and needs a C-17 Globemaster III military cargo jet with the ability to deliver it to Canada, Magellan's chair said.
• US military assets: The US military is moving assets to help, according to the Coast Guard and US Transportation Command. The assets will be moved first to St. John’s in Canada and then taken to the search area. It is unclear what assets or equipment are on the flights or to whom they belong. The Pentagon has also said it is assisting.
• From the air: Two C-130 aircraft made search and rescue flights over the area on Monday, and an Air National Guard C-130 joined efforts Tuesday, the Pentagon said. Meanwhile, Air National Guard members including a team of pararescue jumpers flew 900 miles out into the Atlantic Ocean in a HC-130J Combat King aircraft, where they deployed infrared radar, the New York Air National Guard said.
• Recovering the sub: Ret. Navy Capt.  Ray Scott "Chip" McCord said: “There’s very few assets in the world that can go down that deep." Once crews have narrowed their search, they could deploy a cargo van-sized remote-operated craft to locate the submersible," he said . The ROV is tethered to a surface ship with a 2-inch thick cable to provide power and communication. It could be moved to a Canadian port by military aircraft, loaded onto a ship by crane, and then steamed to the search site, McCord said. However, US military ROVs have electric motors and cameras, but do not have the capacity to lift the missing vessel, he added.  

Expert tells CNN recovery will happen in phases if rescuers can locate the missing submersible

Rick Murcar, owner of Aquatic Adventures of Florida, described the phases of recovery that rescuers will go through if they can locate the missing submersible.

"Phase one is locate. Obviously phase two is confirm the status of the people and is a recovery possible? Phase three ... let's hope a recovery can take place," Murcar told CNN.

"That's going to be a long process," he added.

Coast Guard officials on Tuesday afternoon estimated there is "about 40 hours of breathable air left" in the submersible, which went missing Sunday on a trip to view the wreckage of the Titanic.

So far, the Coast Guard and its partners' search efforts have "not yielded any results," Capt. Jamie Frederick, with the First Coast Guard District Response Department, said Tuesday.

Titanic's fate has long been a source of fascination. Here are some key facts about the luxury liner

The submersible that has gone missing in the North Atlantic was part of an expedition to view the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, perhaps the most famous shipwreck in the world.

More than 100 years after its disastrous maiden voyage, the fate of the luxury liner has long served as a source of fascination , and been the backdrop for countless books, fiction and non-fiction and, of course, a blockbuster movie.

The ship set sail from Southampton, England, to New York on April 10, 1912.

Then, between April 14 to 15, it hit an iceberg around midnight and sank in less than three hours.

A total of 1,517 people died and 706 survived out of 2,223 passengers and crew, according to the  US Senate report  on the disaster.

Here are more interesting facts about the Titanic:

The ship: The estimated cost of construction was $7.5 million. At the time, the RMS Titanic was the largest passenger ship afloat. The ship’s length was 882 feet, 9 inches, and it weighed 46,328 tons. Its top speed was 23 knots. The wreckage is located about 350 miles off the southeast coast of Newfoundland.

How the Titanic sank: The iceberg punctured five of 16 supposedly watertight compartments designed to hold water in case of a breach to the hull. Investigations at the time blamed Capt. Edward Smith for going too fast in dangerous waters, initial ship inspections that had been done too quickly, insufficient room in the lifeboats for all passengers, and a nearby ship’s failure to help. Many maritime safety reforms were implemented as a result of the findings of the investigations.

Smith went down with the ship, and his body was never recovered.

Key dates post-shipwreck:

• September 1, 1985: Scientists from Woods Hole Deep Submergence LAB in Massachusetts, led by Dr. Robert Ballard, and IFREMER, the French Institute Francais de Recherche pour l’Exploitation des Mers, led by Jean Jarry, locate the wreckage of Titanic.
• July 13, 1986: Ballard and his crew use the manned deep-ocean research submersible Alvin to explore the wreckage. The Alvin is accompanied by a remotely operated vehicle named Jason Jr. to conduct photographic surveys and further inspections.
• May 31, 2009: The last known survivor, Millvina Dean, dies at age 97.
• April 8-20, 2012: The 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s voyage. The MS Balmoral traces the ship’s route from Southampton to New York and holds a memorial service, above the wreck, on April 15.
• Summer, 2022: Deep sea investigators Magellan and filmmakers Atlantic Productions use deep sea mapping to create "an exact ‘Digital Twin’ of the Titanic wreck for the first time."

Read more here .

Search teams should send assets "right away" after banging heard, expert says

A renowned oceanographer said Tuesday he was "hopeful" after banging sounds  were heard during the search for the missing  Titan submersible — and teams must not wait to "get assets there."

"My hope is that they spent a lot of time and assets trying to locate where the bangs are coming from," said David Gallo , senior adviser for strategic initiatives at RMS Titanic Inc.

"Time is of the essence because once you ... have an area where you know that the bangs are coming from ... you need to get assets there — submarines and robots — over that spot to investigate.

Friend aboard: Gallo called French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, who is one of five people on board the missing vessel, his "very good friend."

He "is the kind of person that if he were in that submarine, he would think this thoroughly through and would do something like that every 30 minutes," Gallo told CNN.

"But they have to get moving, get stuff over there right away."

US Coast Guard says underwater noises detected but subsequent searches "yielded negative results"

The US Coast Guard said early Wednesday that a Canadian aircraft assisting with search operations "detected underwater noises in the search area" but subsequent searches "yielded negative results."

"Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater noises in the search area. As a result, ROV operations were relocated in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises. Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue," the Coast Guard said in a tweet . "Additionally, the data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our US Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans."

Earlier, an internal US government memo said crews searching for the submersible heard banging at 30 minute intervals, and a Canadian P3 aircraft also located a white rectangular object in the water.

It is unclear whether the update from the US Coast Guard relates to the same event.

Explorers Club says its working on approval for deep-sea mapping company to join the search

From CNN's Dave Alsup

Explorers Club President Richard Garriott de Cayeux said they are continuing to work on getting approval for deep sea-mapping company Magellan to be allowed to deploy and assist in the search for the missing submersible.

Magellan, best known for its  one-of-a-kind deep sea imagery of the Titanic , operates deep-sea diving equipment, including Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) capable of reaching the needed depths, according to its website.

In a letter sent to club membership Tuesday, Cayeux listed four points, which he said gave the club "much greater confidence."

Here's what he said:

• There is cause for hope, based on data from the field – we understand that likely signs of life have been detected at the site 
• They precisely understand the experienced personnel and tech we can help deploy
• We believe they are doing everything possible with all resources they have
• We now have direct lines to the highest levels of Congress, The Coast Guard, Air Force, Navy and The White House, thanks to your support. We continue to work on approval for the Magellan ROVs to be allowed to deploy to the site as we believe they can provide invaluable assistance

Magellan says they need a plane: Earlier Tuesday, CNN spoke with Magellan’s chairman David Thompson, who said his company had received written notice from OceanGate Expeditions to mobilize early Monday and help.  

However, they need an aircraft with the ability to transport their deep-sea diving equipment from the UK to Canada to launch their operation. Specifically, he said, they would require the use of a C-17 Globemaster III military jet.  

Thompson said the US Air Force or UK Royal Airforce have not gotten back to Magellan letting them know if or when a plane can be procured for them to use to transport the equipment they need to Canada to embark on rescue efforts.

Search crews racing to find the missing sub heard banging sounds Tuesday. Here's what to know

Crews searching for the Titan submersible that went missing near the wreckage of the Titanic heard banging sounds in 30 minute intervals Tuesday, according to an internal government memo update on the search. Banging was still heard four hours later, after additional sonar devices were deployed.

It was unclear when the banging was heard on Tuesday or for how long, based on the memo. A subsequent update sent Tuesday night suggested more sounds were heard, though it was not described as “banging.” Still, it indicates "continued hope of survivors," the update said.

It comes as the five people onboard have less than 40 hours of breathable air left, the US Coast Guard said Tuesday at about 1 p.m. ET — more than 11 hours ago.

Here's where things stand :

• Some background:  The submersible was part of an eight-day expedition to the Titanic conducted by  OceanGate Expeditions . The search is focused around the site of the shipwreck, about 900 miles off the coast of Cape Cod. The submersible began its  two-hour descent Sunday morning . It lost contact with the Polar Prince, the support ship that transported the vessel to the site, less than two hours into its descent, officials said. Search operations began later that day.
• Latest on search efforts:  The urgent search has not yielded anything so far, but the US Coast Guard is working  "around the clock"  to try to find the missing submersible, Capt. Jamie Frederick, with the First Coast Guard District Response Department, said in a briefing Tuesday. In addition to looking on the surface of the water, the team has underwater search capability on the scene, another Coast Guard official said. Deep sea-mapping company Magellan, most famously known for its  one-of-a-kind deep sea imagery of the Titanic , is also working to get its  equipment to the site . Weather and fog  complicated aerial search efforts  Monday, according to officials. But, conditions cleared up on Tuesday.
• Collaborative assistance:  The US Navy is sending experts and a “Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System” — which can lift small vessels — to assist, a spokesperson said Tuesday. The US military is  moving military and commercial assets , according to the Coast Guard and US Transportation Command. France said it has dispatched a ship with an  underwater robot .
• Who is inside:  There are  five people in  the submersible, according to multiple authorities. One of them is Stockton Rush, CEO and founder of OceanGate, the company leading the voyage, according to a source with knowledge of the mission plan. The others are British businessman Hamish Harding, Pakistani billionaire Shahzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman Dawood, and French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
• Family and friends of passengers:  A friend of Harding told CNN the explorer is  “larger than life " and would be “calm and collected” in an emergency. A colleague of Nargeolet said the community of explorers and scientists is  "in shock."  Another friend of the French submariner said he had been to the Titanic wreckage  dozens of times  and dedicated his professional life to its history.
• Safety concerns: Industry leaders expressed concerns five years ago about OceanGate's "experimental approach" to the Titan submersible and its planned Titanic trip,  the New York Times reported. Specifically, it expressed concern over the company's compliance with a maritime risk assessment certification known as DNV-GL. Separately, two former OceanGate employees  voiced safety concerns years ago about the sub's hull, and a statement from a research lab appears to show conflicting information about the engineering and testing that went into the development of the vessel.

Banging sounds heard during Titan search Tuesday, according to internal government memo

From CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez

Crews  searching for the Titan submersible  heard banging sounds every 30 minutes Tuesday, according to an internal government memo update on the search.

Four hours later, after additional sonar devices were deployed, banging was still heard, the memo said. It was unclear when the banging was heard Tuesday or for how long, based on the memo.

A subsequent update sent Tuesday night suggested more sounds were heard, though it was not described as “banging.”

A Canadian P3 aircraft also located a white rectangular object in the water, according to that update, but another ship set to investigate was diverted to help research the acoustic feedback instead, according to that update.

The Joint Rescue Coordination Center is working to find an underwater remote operated vehicle to help assist in the search, according to the memo.

CNN has reached out to OceanGate, the US Coast Guard in Boston and Canadian authorities for comment.

Rolling Stone  was first to report the news Tuesday night.

CNN’s Andy Rose and Paul Murphy contributed to this report.

Please enable JavaScript for a better experience.

• Updated Terms of Use
• New Privacy Policy
• Your Privacy Choices
• Closed Caption Policy
• Accessibility Statement

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset . Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions . Legal Statement . Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper .

Crew killed in 'catastrophic implosion': Timeline of mission to find OceanGate's missing Titanic submarine

Oceangate's titan sub has less than 30 hours of oxygen remaining.

SUBMARINE TRAGEDY: Timeline of missing Titanic Sub

Timeline of the search for missing Titanic submarine Titan

News of OceanGate Expedition's missing submarine exploded on Monday as the U.S. and Canadian coast guards sprang into action with search and rescue missions. 

Unfortunately, the search came to a tragic end Thursday after rescue officials discovered debris from the imploded vessel near the wreckage of the Titanic. 

Here is the timeline of how OceanGate's Titan submersible went missing during its descent to the wreckage of the Titanic.

U.K. billionaire Hamish Harding, one of the tourists aboard the missing sub, posts to Facebook one day before the sub is set to begin its descent.

"Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023," Harding wrote "A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow. We started steaming from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada yesterday and are planning to start dive operations around 4 a.m. tomorrow morning. Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do."

LIVE UPDATES: SEARCH FOR OCEANGATE’S TITAN SUBMARINE  

Inset, from left: Suleman Dawood, Shahzada Dawood, Stockton Rush; Paul-Henry Nargeolet and Hamish Harding died when the OceanGate Titan submersible imploded. (Engro Corp. | Reuters/Shannon Stapleton | @OceanGateExped/Twitter | Felix Kunze/Blue Origin via AP | Ocean Gate/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Harding boards the submersible alongside Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19. OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush also boards the submersible, as well as an OceanGate pilot whose identity has not been confirmed.

Critically, the crew are sealed into the vehicle with 17 bolts, and it cannot be opened from the inside. The craft has enough stored oxygen to keep the crew alive for 96 hours.

The Titan then departs the Polar Prince mothership Sunday morning and begins its descent over the wreckage of the Titanic. The ship loses contact with the submersible 1 hour and 45 minutes into the dive.

At this time, U.S. Navy's top secret acoustic detection system picks up sounds that were consistent with either an explosion or an implosion. The Navy passed on that information to the Coast Guard which continued its search because the Navy did not consider the data to be definitive. 

US NAVY DETECTED TITAN SUB IMPLOSION WITH TOP SECRET ACOUSTIC SYSTEM DAY VESSEL WENT MISSING

This file image provided by OceanGate shows the Titan submersible being towed in Everett, Washington. (OceanGate Expeditions)

At an unknown time, OceanGate sounds the alarm from the Polar Prince that the submersible has gone missing.

Immediately, the U.S. Coast Guard Northeast diverts a C-130 aircraft already in the area to begin searching the ocean surface. The Titan is designed to automatically surface in the event of a technical failure. If it is on the surface, rescuers must reach it within the 96-hour window to unseal the vehicle and release the crew.

Some failure may have caused the vehicle to remain stuck underwater. Rescue Coordination Center Halifax in Canada also delivers a P8-Poseidon aircraft, which is capable of dropping sonar buoys that can search underwater.

The U.S. and Canadian coast guards also dispatch more aircraft to the search area, located 900 miles off the U.S. northeast coast.

During this time, Harding's stepson, Brian Szasz, confirms that Harding is on board the submersible in a statement on social media.

This file image provided by OceanGate shows the Titan submersible descending into the ocean. (OceanGate Expeditions)

Rescuers have been searching for roughly 48 hours and have covered 10,000 square miles of ocean, with no sign of the missing submersible.

Engro Corp. confirms that Dawood and his son are aboard the submersible in addition to Harding. OceanGate also confirms that CEO Rush is on board.

IMAGES SHOW OCEANGATE TITAN SUBMARINE'S FINAL MOMENT BEFORE IT BEGAN DIVE TO TITANIC 

"All that we know so far is that contact was lost with their submersible craft," Engro wrote at the time. "There is limited information available beyond this that we know, and we humbly request that speculation and theorization is avoided."

Meanwhile, rescue efforts are ongoing as the U.S. Coast Guard reaches out to both the U.S. Navy and the private sector for assistance. A commercial pipe-laying ship arrives to the area. Rescuers hope it will allow them to search depths of up to 3,800 meters after an unsuccessful night.

The U.S. Coast Guard delivers an update on their rescue efforts and say the Titan craft has 40-41 hours of oxygen remaining as of 1 p.m. ET.

Capt. Jamie Frederick, the response coordinator for the USCG's first district, explains that the Coast Guard does not have the equipment or expertise to conduct deep-sea search and rescue. The U.S., Canada and the private sector are working in concert to provide the necessary equipment and skill for such a search, such as remote-operated vehicles (ROVs) that can dive to the necessary depths.

Officials stressed that they are continuing to search for the submersible on the surface, however.

Assets now searching for the lost submersible include:

• Canadian CGS John Cabot
• Canadian CGS Ann Harvey
• Canadian CGS Terry Fox
• Canadian CGS Atlantic Merlin (ROV)
• Motor Vessel Horizon Arctic
• Commercial Vessel Skandi Vinland (ROV)
• French Research Vessel L’Atalante (ROV)
• His Majesty's Canadian Ship Glace Bay (mobile decompression chamber and medical personnel)

An undated photo shows tourist submersible belongs to OceanGate descents at a sea. Search and rescue operations continue by US Coast Guard in Boston after a tourist submarine bound for the Titanic's wreckage site went missing off the southeastern coast of Canada. (Ocean Gate / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The USCG announces that a Canadian P-3 aircraft had detected "underwater noises" in the search area.

As a result, available ROVs were diverted to the area to begin searching. They had found nothing as of 12:18 a.m., but still continued their search.

The Coast Guard says the noise data from the P-3 aircraft, which dropped sonar buoys in the area, has been delivered to the U.S. Navy for further analysis.

The CCGS John Cabot seen docked in North Vancouver, British Columbia on July 6, 2020.  (Malcolm Millar/MarineTraffic)

MISSING TITANIC SUBMARINE: CANADIAN UNDERWATER ROBOT SEARCHES OCEAN FLOOR AS OXYGEN LEVELS DWINDLE

The USCG said Thursday a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) deployed by the Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic had found a "debris field" in the search for the missing submersible. 

The USCG later confirmed that the debris was "consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber" that killed all five men aboard. 

"Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families," U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger told reporters. "On behalf of the United States Coast Guard and the entire unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families."

USCG said the underwater sounds and banging noises detected earlier were unrelated to the missing submersible. 

In this satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies, from top to bottom, the vessels Horizon Arctic, Deep Energy and Skandi Vinland search for the missing submersible Titan, Thursday, June 22, 2023 in the Atlantic Ocean. (Satellite image ©2023 Maxar Technologies via AP)

OceanGate Expeditions confirmed that the passengers aboard the missing Titanic submersible are believed to have "sadly been lost." 

"We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost," OceanGate said in a statement.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans. Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew," OceanGate said in part. 

Thursday evening, a U.S. defense official revealed the U.S. Navy detected what it suspected may have been an implosion within hours of the Titan submersible descending into the ocean to visit the Titanic wreckage. The sounds were detected near where the Titan was found.  Fox News' Greg Norman contributed to this report.

Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to [email protected], or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.

Fox News' "Antisemitism Exposed" newsletter brings you stories on the rising anti-Jewish prejudice across the U.S. and the world.

You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!

Who were the 5 people killed on board the OceanGate Titanic submersible

They included OceanGate's CEO, a researcher, pilot and a businessman and son.

After days of desperate searches throughout the Atlantic Ocean, the U.S. Coast Guard announced Thursday that the five passengers aboard the missing submersible vessel were killed when vessel suffered a catastrophic implosion.

Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding and Paul-Henri Nargeolet were inside the vessel that embarked on the deep-dive tour, according to OceanGate, the company that operated the submersible. Their families were notified after debris of the vessel was found on the ocean floor, according to the Coast Guard.

"Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew," OceanGate said in a statement Thursday.

The submersible was designed with life support to sustain five crew members for 96 hours. On Thursday, the Coast Guard said it found debris on the ocean floor that was consistent with "catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber," roughly 1,600 feet from the Titanic wreckage.

The investigation into the incident is ongoing.

Here's what we know about the victims.

Hamish Harding

Hamish Harding was no stranger to exploration.

Harding circumnavigated the Earth in 2019. He made a dive in 2021 to the deepest point on earth, Challenger Deep, in the Mariana Trench. And he traveled into space last year aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard.

Harding, a British businessman and chairman of Action Aviation, previewed his dive to see the Titanic shipwreck in a Facebook post.

"Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023," he posted on Sunday. "A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow."

Harding, a licensed air transport pilot who holds three Guinness World Records, was "an extraordinarily accomplished individual who has successfully undertaken challenging expeditions," Action Aviation said in a statement.

Along with his ocean dives and blasting off to space, he helped with "the reintroduction of Cheetahs from Namibia to India" and "has been to the South Pole a number of times," the company said. Harding was inducted in 2022 as a Living Legend of Aviation.

On Thursday afternoon, Harding's family and Action Aviation released a statement saying they were "united in grief with the other families who have also lost their loved ones on the Titan submersible."

"Hamish Harding was a loving husband to his wife and a dedicated father to his two sons, whom he loved deeply," the statement read. "He was a passionate explorer – whatever the terrain – who lived his life for his family, his business and for the next adventure. What he achieved in his lifetime was truly remarkable and if we can take any small consolation from this tragedy, it’s that we lost him doing what he loved."

"We know that Hamish would have been immensely proud to see how nations, experts, industry colleagues and friends came together for the search and we extend our heartfelt thanks for all their efforts," the family and company added in their statement.

Shahzada and Suleman Dawood

Shahzada Dawood was vice chairman of Engro Corporation Limited, a sprawling business headquartered in Karachi, Pakistan. Suleman Dawood is his son, the family said in a statement.

The Dawoods were both British citizens, according to a colleague.

Shahzada Dawood, a husband and father of two, loved photography, gardening and exploring natural habitats, according to the family.

Suleman Dawood, a university student, was passionate about science fiction literature and learning new things.

Samad Dawood, Shahzada's brother, told ABC News he, his sister and his father all traveled to Newfoundland with hopes of better news.

MORE: Titanic submersible victims' family mourns: 'enormous tragedy and devastation'

Samad Dawood broke down in tears as he reflected on his nephew.

"He was so filled with humbleness and gratitude," he told ABC News. "I think it's sad but also amazing that... his death also brought the world together, and I thank him for it."

Samad Dawood said his brother "inspired in us audacity from a very young age."

"He was always the kind of person who had love for the world," Samad Dawood said. "He was a guy who just wanted to go out there, experience what the world had to offer, even though he himself pushed himself to do it."

The Dawood family released a statement Thursday expressing gratitude for everyone involved in the rescue operations.

"Their untiring efforts were a source of strength for us during this time," they said in the statement. "We are also indebted to our friends, family, colleagues and well-wishers from all over the world who have stood by us during our hour of need. The immense love and support we receive continue to help us endure this unimaginable loss."

"We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families of the other passengers on the Titan submersible," the family added. "At this time, we are unable to receive calls and request that support, condolences and prayers be messaged instead. Details of their final rites in this world will be announced soon."

In a statement Thursday night, Engro offered its condolences for both Shahzada and Suleman Dawood.

"With heavy hearts and great sadness, we grieve the loss of our Vice Chairman, Shahzada Dawood, and his beloved son, Suleman Dawood," the company said in the message. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the Dawood family at this tragic time."

"We extend our heartfelt condolences to the family, colleagues, friends and all those around the world who grieve this unthinkable loss," it added.

Paul-Henri Nargeolet

Paul-Henri Nargeolet, known as PH, a diver and Titanic researcher, was among the passengers. He was the director of Underwater Research at RMS Titanic Inc., according to the company .

Nargeolet led six expeditions to the Titanic site, most recently in 2010.

Stockton Rush

According to OceanGate's website, Stockton Rush "oversees OceanGate’s financial and engineering strategies and provides a clear vision for development of 4,000 meter (13,123 feet) and 6,000 meter (19,685 feet) capable crewed submersibles and their partner launch and recovery platforms."

Rush, who studied aerospace engineering at Princeton University and obtained an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley, "has written numerous engineering articles on crewed submersible vehicles in subsea operations," OceanGate's website said.

ABC News' Matt Foster, Miles Cohen, Mark Guarino, Emily Shapiro, Peter Charalambous, Sam Sweeney, Laryssa Demkiw, Gio Benitez and Victoria Beaule contributed to this report.

Related Topics

• Titanic submersible

Tue 30 Apr 2024

2024 newspaper of the year

@ Contact us

Your newsletters

How much is the Titanic sub tour? Inside the exclusive OceanGate expedition and why it costs so much

Government agencies, us and canadian navies and commercial deep-sea firms have joined efforts to find the vessel belonging to tour firm oceangate.

A search is under way after a submersible that takes tourists to view the wreck of the Titanic went missing in the Atlantic Ocean .

Government agencies, US and Canadian navies and commercial deep-sea firms have joined efforts to find the vessel belonging to tour firm OceanGate.

The luxury tour company that promises unforgettable expeditions to see the wreckage of the Titanic has confirmed one of its submersibles has gone missing.

“We are exploring and mobilising all options to bring the crew back safely,” OceanGate said in a statement.

Who are Ocean Gate and how much does it cost?

OceanGate is a Washington-based company that has been offering trips to the wreck for several years , with six guests per voyage paying $250,000 (£195,000) for the privilege. This includes a guided tour around the famous ship 13,000ft beneath the sea, as well as luxury hospitality aboard an expedition vessel.

“You will arrive at depth, and after some navigating across the seafloor and debris field, finally see what you’ve been waiting for: the RMS Titanic ,” says the company in its brochure.

The wreck of the Titanic lies about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. Without any cell towers in the middle of the ocean, we are relying on @Starlink to provide the communications we require throughout this year’s 2023 Titanic Expedition. More: https://t.co/F7OtKI0En7 pic.twitter.com/wr7HeKlGjj — OceanGate Expeditions (@OceanGateExped) June 14, 2023

“The content expert on board will point out key features, be they of the wreck itself or the life that calls this corner of the ocean home. Enjoy hours of exploring the wreck and debris field before making the two-hour ascent to the surface.”

The eight-day 2023 expedition was listed as “underway” on a cached page of the OceanGate website, with the original no longer online. The company did not answer calls to its office.

It is extremely exclusive, with the company saying it offers “a select number of individuals to explore the vessel that was once the height of opulence, but whose journey would end tragically”. It says it is a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to travel in the world’s only carbon-fibre submersible capable of diving five people.

OceanGate founder, businessman Stockton Rush, founded the company in 2009 promising to make the depths of the oceans accessible.

The former aerospace engineer told CBS News last year that the Titanic trips represent “a new type of travel”, blending adventure, luxury and history.

What happened to the Titanic tourist sub after it goes missing in Atlantic Ocean

The famous wreck holds a powerful allure that draws passionate guests, he said.

“We have clients that are Titanic enthusiasts, which we refer to as Titaniacs,” Mr Rush added. “We’ve had people who have mortgaged their home to come and do the trip. And we have people who don’t think twice about a trip of this cost. We had one gentleman who had won the lottery.”

The expeditions also double as research opportunities for scientists, allowing them to study rare species in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.

Visitors are warned that the experience can be unpredictable, with weather conditions interfering with previous expeditions.

OceanGate is one of several companies offering trips to the Titanic , located around 370 miles off the Canadian coast, with demand said to be intense. Scientists had previously warned that the number of visits from filmmakers and explorers was damaging the wreck.

Tourist visits to the Titanic have been controversial, with some relatives of victims of the 1912 disaster saying they are disrespectful to the dead.

What happened?

The sub normally communicates with its pilot ship the Polar Prince every 15 minutes but contact was lost about an hour and 45 minutes into the dive, the US Coast Guard said.

“We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to re-establish contact with the submersible,” OceanGate said in a statement.

“We are working toward the safe return of the crew members.”

Rear Adm John Mauger of the US Coast Guard told a press conference they are doing “everything” they can to find the submersible.

“Right now, our focus is getting on as much capability into the area as we can,” he said on Monday, adding: “We anticipate that there’s somewhere between 70 to the full 96 hours at this point.

“It is a remote area and a challenge, but we are deploying all available assets.”

The US Coast Guard said the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince and 106 Rescue wing will continue to conduct surface searches while the US Coast Guard sent two C-130 flights to search for the missing submersible.

Who was on board the sub?

Five people were onboard the vessel, including one pilot and two “mission specialists”.

Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood have been named as two of the other people on the submersible in a family statement.

“We are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request everyone to pray for their safety,” the statement said.

Among the crew is British businessman and explorer Hamish Harding , chairman of private plane firm Action Aviation.

In a subsequently deleted Facebook post, Mr Harding’s stepson wrote that he had “gone missing on a submarine” and asked for “thoughts and prayers”.

The last pictures from before the dive were shared on Action Aviation’s Instagram account, depicting the submersible setting off into the depths.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cto-21dMXpx/?hl=en

Mark Butler, managing director of Action Aviation, said: “There is still plenty of time to facilitate a rescue mission, there is equipment on board for survival in this event. We’re all hoping and praying he comes back safe and sound.”

Mr Harding holds three Guinness World Records, including the longest duration at full ocean depth by a crewed vessel when in March 2021, he and ocean explorer Victor Vescovo dived to the lowest depth of the Mariana Trench. In June 2022, he went into space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.

His cousin, Kathleen Cosnett, told The Daily Telegraph she saw Mr Harding as “daring” and “inquisitive”, and that she was “devastated” to learn he was missing.

On social media at the weekend, he said he was “proud to finally announce” he would be aboard the mission to the wreck of the Titanic , the luxury ocean liner which hit an iceberg and sank in 1912, killing more than 1,500 people.

The Explorer’s Club, of which Mr Harding is a founding member of, shared the news of his disappearance on Instagram with club president Richard Garriot saying: “When I saw Hamish last week… his excitement about this expedition was palpable,” he said.

“I know he was looking forward to conducting research at the site. We all join in the fervent hope that the submersible is located as quickly as possible and the crew is safe.”

Where is the wreckage of the Titanic?

The shipwreck of the Titanic is 3,800 metres down on the bed of the Atlantic Ocean, roughly 600km (370 miles) off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

The passenger liner hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in 1912, with more than 1,500 of the 2,200 passengers and crew onboard dying.

The wreckage was discovered in 1985.

Most Read By Subscribers

Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

US Edition Change

• US election 2024
• US Politics
• UK Politics
• News Videos
• Rugby Union
• Sports Videos
• Photography
• Theatre & Dance
• Culture Videos
• Food & Drink
• Health & Families
• Royal Family
• Electric Vehicles
• Lifestyle Videos
• News & Advice
• Simon Calder
• Inspiration
• City Guides
• Sustainable Travel
• Politics Explained
• News Analysis
• Home & Garden
• Fashion & Beauty
• Travel & Outdoors
• Sports & Fitness
• Sustainable Living
• Climate Videos
• Electric vehicles
• Behind The Headlines
• On The Ground
• Decomplicated
• You Ask The Questions
• Binge Watch
• Travel Smart
• Watch on your TV
• Crosswords & Puzzles
• Most Commented
• Newsletters
• Ask Me Anything
• Virtual Events

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in

Inside Titan: Titanic-spotting submarine steered by video game controller

Oceangate expeditions offered tours of the wreck of the legendary liner for $250,000 per person, article bookmarked.

Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday

Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the us, thanks for signing up to the evening headlines email.

The search for what remains of the Titan submersible and its passengers concluded this week, as human remains were found on the sea floor and debris from the vessel returned to dry land in Canada.

Large pieces of wreckage from the Titan was seen being transported to St John’s harbour in Newfoundland on Wednesday by the Horizon Arctic ship, where they were unloaded by a crane.

The Coast Guard announced just hours later that “presumed human remains” had been found on the sea floor. They will now be formally analysed.

While the search has ended, investigations will continue for some time into what caused the “catastrophic implosion” of the sub, killing all five passengers on board.

The resting place of the Titanic lies about 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, at a depth of around 12,500ft below the surface, with trips to visit it typically involving a two-hour descent.

• Titanic sub update: OceanGate still advertising Titan trips after human remains recovered from wreckage
• Voice recordings under scrutiny in Titanic sub implosion investigation
• What was the banging noise picked up in search for Titanic sub?

Particular details about the Titan, a cramped metal cylinder accommodating four passengers and a pilot, emerged soon after it first went missing.

Measuring 22ft long by 9.2ft across and 8.3ft high , the sub consists of an aerospace-grade carbon fibre hull with titanium hemispheres at each end, as well as a fibreglass hull insert to shield the passengers and electronics from condensation.

A real-time monitoring system provides a running analysis of the impact changing pressure is having on the hull as the craft descends deeper and deeper into the ocean in the interests of safety.

The vessel weighs 10,432kg in total and can travel at a maximum speed of three knots, made possible by Four Innerspace 1002 electric thrusters.

The tourists and scientists who typically ride in it are able to look out via a large viewport window, their perspective enhanced by Sub C Imaging 4k Rayfin exterior cameras that capture the surrounding marine environment in a live feed that is displayed on a large digital display.

There is little by way of comfort inside but there is a toilet, although privacy is limited because it is situated right next to the viewing window.

Most astonishingly, the craft is controlled by a generic video games controller – specifically a Logitech F710 Wireless PC Gamepad from 2011, according to gaming expert Matthew Ruddle – and, rather than using a GPS for navigation, it communicates with a tracking team aboard a surface ship, in this case the Polar Prince, via text messages.

A clip of a CBS Sunday Morning featurette about the sub from November 2022 that has gone viral in light of this week’s disaster shows OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who was aboard the vessel that imploded after vanishing on Sunday, cheerily pointing out handles affixed to the ceiling of the craft that he says he bought from Camper World but denying that the vessel has been “MacGyvered” or “jerry-rigged”.

“There’s no switches and things to bump into, we have one button to turn it on,” Mr Rush explained to reporter David Pogue.

“Everything else is done with touch screens and computers, and so you really become part of the vehicle and everybody gets to know everyone pretty well.”

The Titan was reportedly built with the help of a team of engineering consultants from Nasa ’s Marshall Space Flight Center, who offered guidance during the development stage.

Speaking to GB News, David Scott-Beddard, chair of the British Titanic Society, outlined how unique the proposition offered by the company is, explaining: “The OceanGate Titan, this particular submersible, is the only one currently capable in commercial use that can take passengers down to the wreck... It’s one of only five submersibles that can reach this depth.”

Similarly, G Michael Harris, a specialist Titanic expedition leader who said he has previously worked with the pilot of the stricken Titan, told Jesse Waters on Fox News: “More people have been to outer space than to this depth of the ocean and when you’re diving in these situations you have to cross your T’s, dot your I’s, you have to have everything absolutely perfect and by the book... Throw in a bunch of tourists and a new sub that was created over the last several years… it’s not looking good.”

As to the experience of being a passenger on the Titan, New Yorker Mike Reiss, who said he had made three dives in it, told BBC Breakfast that the sub is “a beautifully designed craft, I can’t disparage it, but it’s meant to go down further than any other vessels can go... If it’s down at the bottom, I don’t know how anyone’s going to be able to access it, much less bring it back up.

He continued: “The phrase we keep hearing is ‘they’ve lost communication’ and I’ve gotta say I did three separate dives, I did one dive to the Titanic and two more off the coast of New York and every time they lost communication.

“And, again, this is not to say this is a shoddy ship or anything. It’s just, this is all new technology and they’re learning it as they go along.

“You have to remember the early days of the space programme or the early days of aviation where you just make a lot of mistakes on the way to figuring out what you’re doing.”

OceanGate Expeditions founder and CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman were on board the Titan. All five passengers died in the implosion.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.

New to The Independent?

Or if you would prefer:

Want an ad-free experience?

Hi {{indy.fullName}}

• My Independent Premium
• Account details
• Help centre

• Updated Terms of Use
• New Privacy Policy
• Your Privacy Choices
• Closed Captioning Policy

Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by  Factset . Powered and implemented by  FactSet Digital Solutions .  Legal Statement .

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. FAQ - New Privacy Policy

Titanic submarine tour company OceanGate Expeditions: What to know

Voyage is oceangate's fifth expedition to the wreck of the titanic this year.

FOX Business Flash top headlines for June 19

Check out whats clicking on FoxBusiness.com

A search and rescue mission is underway for a submersible that was reported missing in the Atlantic Ocean while taking tourists to the submerged wreck of the Titanic on Monday.

The sub belongs to OceanGate Expeditions, a company that provides crewed submersible services for exploration, industry and research purposes. The U.S. Coast Guard is participating in the search and has reported that five people are aboard the vessel, including one crew member and four "mission specialists." An air search is underway and several ships are heading to the area to assist. 

OceanGate’s expeditions to the Titanic depart from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to the wreck of the Titanic about 370 miles away. The trips take eight days and each dive to the wreck and ascent to the surface reportedly takes roughly eight hours. Passengers pay about $250,000 to participate in the trip, and the latest expedition to the Titanic is reportedly OceanGate’s fifth of the year.

OceanGate, which was founded in 2009 by Stockton Rush, has several custom-built submersibles including Titan, which was designed to reach depths of 13,123 feet necessary to visit the wreck of the Titanic, which lies at a depth of about 12,500 feet. The Titan utilizes SpaceX's Starlink satellite communications system when at sea.

SUBMARINE USED FOR TOURIST VISITS TO TITANIC WRECKAGE GOES MISSING IN THE ATLANTIC

A search is underway for a submersible from OceanGate Expeditions on a tourist trip to the wreck of the Titanic was reported missing after it lost contact with the research vessel it was launched from. (Image: © NOAA/Institute for Exploration/University of Rhode Island / Fox News)

The submersible is designed to surface automatically if it encounters technical problems. A Coast Guard C-130 aircraft is searching for the sub on the surface, while a P-8 Poseidon has also been dispatched from Rescue Coordination Center Halifax. The Poseidon is an aircraft that specializes in maritime patrol operations and has underwater detection capabilities it can utilize by dropping sonobuoys in a search area.

OceanGate’s website says that the Titan has life support capabilities sufficient to sustain its five-person crew for 96 hours. According to the Coast Guard, the submersible departed the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince on Sunday morning for its trip to the Titanic, and the ship lost contact with the sub after about an hour and 45 minutes. That would leave rescuers with about 72 hours left to find the sub according to reports, unless it suffered a catastrophic failure and failed to surface.

"We are exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely," OceanGate said in a statement. "Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families. We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible. We are working toward the safe return of the crewmembers."

26-YEAR-OLD TITANIC MYSTERY FINALLY SOLVED BY DIVERS

Aside from its trips to the Titanic, OceanGate’s website lists several expeditions that its submersibles have conducted in recent years.

It lists expeditions in spring 2022 and fall 2023 for its "Four Subs Project" – a mission to document the wrecks of four historic submarines in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Rhode Island, including one German U-boat from World War II .

The Titanic sank after striking an iceberg in the Atlantic north of Newfoundland in April 1912. Between 1,491 and 1,513 persons died during the wreck. The wreck is lying 4000 meters.  (Getty Images / Getty Images)

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

OceanGate also lists expeditions to Hudson Canyon off the coast of New York City that interested tourists may inquire about.

In years past, OceanGate expeditions have occurred in the Salish Sea near Friday Harbor, Washington; the wreck of the Andrea Doria near Nantucket, Massachusetts ; a wrecked steamboat in Lake Laberge in the Yukon Territory, Canada; a CIA diver lockout chamber off Catalina Island, California; and more.

FOX Business’ Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

Search Day 4: Titan submersible debris found, all onboard presumed dead

Coverage on this live blog has ended. Please click here for the latest updates.

All five people aboard the Titan submersible are believed to be dead, and debris discovered in the search area was consistent with a "catastrophic implosion," the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The debris was found off the bow of the sunken Titanic, officials said.

The search for the Titan, which went missing Sunday after it e mbark ed on a mission to survey the wreckage of the Titanic , had been focused on an area where Canadian aircraft detected "underwater noises" Tuesday and again yesterday.

U.S. Coast Guard officials had estimated the five passengers could run out of air just before 7:10 a.m. ET today, and the location of the missing vessel had remained a mystery even as the search intensified.

What to know about the search for the Titan

• The debris found at the seafloor was "consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel," the Coast Guard said.
• The Coast Guard said today that a "debris field" had been found in the search area.
• The submersible disappeared Sunday during a mission to survey the wreckage of the Titanic, which is 900 nautical miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
• A sound consistent with an implosion was heard Sunday, shortly after the submersible lost communications, the a senior U.S. Navy official said. The sound was not definitive, the official said.
• Those on board have been identified as Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, the company behind the mission; British billionaire Hamish Harding, the owner of Action Aviation; French dive expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet; and prominent Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman.

White House offers condolences to families of Titan victims

The Associated Press

The White House offered its condolences to the families mourning the five people killed aboard the Titan submersible.

U.S. Coast Guard officials announced their deaths Thursday following the vessel’s catastrophic implosion in the North Atlantic.

“Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives on the Titan,” the White House said in a statement. “They have been through a harrowing ordeal over the past few days, and we are keeping them in our thoughts and prayers.”

The statement also thanked the searchers, including the Coast Guard, involved in the international effort to find the submersible.

“This has been a testament to the skill and professionalism that the men and women who serve our nation continue to demonstrate every single day,” the statement said.

David Pogue on the misinformation and misunderstandings swirling around the Titanic sub

Kat Tenbarge

Tech journalist and “CBS Sunday Morning” correspondent David Pogue, who observed an OceanGate Expeditions Titanic shipwreck trip last year, the last before the Titan disappeared this week, said a “massive amount of misinformation” has circulated online this week.

In an interview, Pogue, whose  coverage  of the submersible last year has attracted renewed interest in light of the disaster, also responded to attacks on his reporting over the past two days.

Critics on Twitter have suggested that Pogue and other journalists undersold how dangerous the submersible was or even that he conspired to shield the company from accountability. 

Pogue countered that the safety issues were the “centerpiece” of his OceanGate coverage. “There is a fundamental lack of understanding of the deep-sea diving industry process,” he said. 

Read the full story here.

Paul-Henri Nargeolet 'knew the risks that were possible with this expedition,' stepson says

Tim Stelloh

Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French diver and Navy veteran who died aboard the Titan, was “fearless” and understood the potential danger of traveling to the Titanic's wreckage, his stepson said in an interview.

"Anyone who gets into those submersibles knows the risks that could happen," stepson John Paschall said, adding: "Going into this, he knew the risks that were possible with this expedition."

Paschall described Nargeolet, who had led several expeditions to the sunken passenger ship and supervised the recovery of at least 5,000 artifacts, as “the world expert on the Titanic.”

The ocean, Paschall said, was Nargeolet’s “home away from home. He was just so comfortable out there and in any ocean and any lake or whatever it was. The water was just so connected to him.”

“And that especially goes for the Titanic,” Paschall said. “He put so much of his life into that ship.”

Paschall also recalled Nargeolet as a “really incredible stepfather” — someone who was respectful, loving and funny. 

While Nargeolet knew the risks of traveling in a submersible, Paschall said, he wanted to know more about how the company that operated the boat, OceanGate, had maintained the vessel and whether it had kept passengers properly informed.

“Were all the safety procedures followed as closely as possible?” Paschall said. “Was everyone aware of everything that was going on? Was there anything that was missed during any kind of inspection?”

19-year-old Titan passenger was ‘terrified’ before trip, his aunt says

Daniel Arkin

In the days before the Titan vessel  went into the ocean  off Newfoundland, Canada, the 19-year-old university student accompanying his father on the expedition expressed hesitation about going, his aunt said in an interview Thursday.

Azmeh Dawood — the older sister of Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood — said her nephew, Suleman, informed a relative that he “wasn’t very up for it” and felt “terrified” about the trip to explore the wreckage of the Titanic.

But he ended up going aboard  OceanGate’s 22-foot submersible  because the trip fell over Father’s Day weekend and he was eager to please his dad, who was passionate about the lore of the Titanic, Azmeh Dawood said.

'We will miss him today and every day,' Paul-Henri Nargeolet's family say

Phil Helsel

The family of French dive expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet say they will remember him for the rest of their lives after he and four other people died in the Titan submersible accident.

Nargeolet was an “extraordinary father and husband,” the family said.

"He is a man who will be remembered as one of the greatest deep-sea explorers in modern history. When you think of the Titanic and all we know about the ship today, you will think of Paul-Henri Nargeolet and his legendary work," they said in a statement.

The statement added: "But what we will remember him most for is his big heart, his incredible sense of humor and how much he loved his family. We will miss him today and every day for the rest of our lives."

Nargeolet led several expeditions to the Titanic wreckage site, completing at least 35 dives in submersibles and supervising the recovery of at least 5,000 artifacts, including the recovery of the "big piece" — a 20-ton section of the Titanic’s hull — according to Experiential Media Group, where he was the director of underwater research.

The family thanked everyone involved in the dayslong rescue effort and extended condolences to the families of the others who died.

Hamish Harding remembered as an inspiration

The family of British billionaire Hamish Harding and his company are “united in grief” with the families of four other people all dead in the Titan submersible incident, Action Aviation said in a statement.

“Hamish Harding was a loving husband to his wife and a dedicated father to his two sons, whom he loved deeply. To his team in Action Aviation, he was a guide, an inspiration, a support, and a Living Legend,” the company said.

Harding, a former pilot and explorer, was inducted as a Living Legend of Aviation last year, Action Aviation said.

Family of father and son killed in submersible ask for prayers

Antonio Planas

The family of the father and son who died in the Titan submersible are asking for prayers and said they found strength in rescue efforts.

Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, were among the five people killed on the submersible that imploded.

“It is with profound grief that we announce the passing of Shahzada and Suleman Dawood," the family said in a statement released by the Dawood Foundation. "Our beloved sons were aboard OceanGate’s Titan submersible that perished underwater. Please continue to keep the departed souls and our family in your prayers during this difficult period of mourning.”

The family said they were grateful to the people involved in the rescue efforts, saying that "their untiring efforts were a source of strength for us during this time."

"We are also indebted to our friends, family, colleagues, and well-wishers from all over the world who have stood by us during our hour of need," the statement said. "The immense love and support we receive continues to help us to endure this unimaginable loss.”

The Dawood family also offered condolences to the families of the other people aboard the Titan.

Acoustic 'anomaly' consistent with implosion had been detected, Navy official confirms

Mosheh Gains

Courtney Kube

A U.S. Navy analysis of acoustic data “detected an anomaly consistent with an implosion or explosion” near the Titan around the time it lost communications, a senior Navy official said.

The sound consistent with an implosion was heard Sunday, shortly after the submersible lost communications, the official said.

The sound was not definitive, the official said, and it was immediately shared with commanders, who decided to continue searching.

“This information was considered with the compilation of additional acoustic data provided by other partners and the decision was made to continue our mission as a search and rescue and make every effort to save the lives on board,” the Navy official said.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that the sound had been detected.

'Titanic' director James Cameron sees similarities between sunken ship and submersible

“Titanic” director James Cameron said he was astonished by the similarities between the ship that sank in 1912 and the Titan submersible that imploded with five people aboard.

“I’m struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship, and yet, he steamed at full speed into an ice field on a moonless night. And many people died as a result,” Cameron said in an interview with ABC News.

“For a very similar tragedy, where warning signs went unheeded, to take place at the same exact site, with all the diving that’s going on all around the world … it’s just astonishing,” he added. “It’s really quite surreal.”

Cameron said submersible diving is a “mature art” and noted many people in the deep submergence engineering community wrote letters to OceanGate Expeditions, the company behind the mission, pleading that what the company was doing was “too experimental to carry passengers.”

The movie director said one of the passengers aboard the Titan, French dive expert Paul Henry Nargeolet, whom he called “PH,” was a friend he had known for 25 years. He said Nargeolet’s death “is almost impossible for me to process.”

Cameron said he's made 33 dives to the Titanic wreckage site and calculated he's “spent more time on the ship than the captain did back in the day.”

Cameron’s 1997 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet is among the highest-grossing movies of all time, raking in more than $2 billion.

Ocean depth will make recovering bodies from Titanic submersible difficult

'i hope this discovery provides some solace': coast guard's mauger.

Marlene Lenthang

The desperate search for the missing Titan has ended in tragedy after debris from the submersible was found and its five occupants were presumed dead. 

“On behalf of the United States Coast Guard and the entire unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families," Rear Adm. John Mauger of the Coast Guard said this afternoon. "I can only imagine what this has been like for them and I hope that this discovery provides some solace, during this difficult time."

He said the unified command has been in contact with Britain and France, as the nations had citizens aboard the vessel. 

5 major pieces of debris led to identification of Titan, officials say

Undersea expert Paul Hanken said five major different pieces of debris told authorities that it was the remains of the Titan. 

“The initial thing we found was the nose cone, which was outside the pressure hull. We then found a large debris field, within that large debris field we found the front end bell of the pressure hull. That was the first indication that there was a catastrophic event,” he said. 

A second, smaller debris field was also found, which included the other end of the pressure hull, “which basically comprised the totality of that pressure vessel,” Hanken said.

Teams on site will continue to map the debris field on the ocean floor. 

Sonar buoys in search did not detect any implosion sounds

It's not clear exactly when the Titan imploded, but Coast Guard officials said that sonar buoys dispatched "did not hear any signs of catastrophic failure."

"This was a catastrophic implosion of the vessel which would have generated a significant broadband sound down there that the sonar buoys would have picked up," Rear Adm. John Mauger of the Coast Guard said at a news conference today.

Sonar buoys had detected noises in the water Tuesday and yesterday that were being assessed for patterns, but he said today "there doesn't appear to be any connection between the noises and the location [of the debris] on the sea floor."

Debris is consistent with a 'catastrophic implosion' of sub

The debris found at the sea floor was "consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel," Rear Adm. John Mauger of the Coast Guard said.

When asked if it's possible the vessel collided with the Titanic, he said it was found off the bow of the Titanic.

Carl Hartsfield with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution said the debris data is consistent with an implosion in the water column.

" It's in an area where there's not any debris of the Titanic, it is a smooth bottom. To my knowledge ... there's no Titanic wreckage in that area and again 200 plus meters from the bow, and consistent with the location of last communication for an implosion in the water column," he said.

Dawood's older sister feels like she's been 'caught in a really bad film'

The older sister of Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood feels "absolutely heartbroken" that her brother and her 19-year-old nephew were aboard the Titan vessel.

"I feel very bad that the whole world has had to go through so much trauma, so much suspense," Azmeh Dawood said in a phone interview this afternoon, speaking from the home in Amsterdam she shares with her husband.

"I feel like I’ve been caught in a really bad film, with a countdown, but you didn’t know what you’re counting down to," she said, fighting back tears. "I personally have found it kind of difficult to breathe thinking of them."

Azmeh claimed that her nephew did not want to go on the submarine but agreed to take part in the expedition because it was important to his father, a lifelong Titanic obsessive. Suleman "wasn't very up for it" and "terrified," she claimed, explaining that the 19-year-old expressed his concerns to another family member.

"If you gave me a million dollars, I would not have gotten into the Titan," she said.

Tail cone of Titan found 1,600 feet from bow of the Titanic floor, Coast Guard says

“This morning, an ROV from the vessel Horizon Arctic discovered the tail cone of the Titan submersible approximately 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic on the sea floor," Rear Adm. John Mauger, said this afternoon.

Afterward, the ROV found additional debris and it was found to be consistent with the "the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber," he said.

The families of the five crew members on board were notified afterward.

OceanGate says those aboard sub have 'sadly been lost'

OceanGate issued a statement moments ago on the status of the sub:

"We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost.

"These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans. Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.

"This is an extremely sad time for our dedicated employees who are exhausted and grieving deeply over this loss. The entire OceanGate family is deeply grateful for the countless men and women from multiple organizations of the international community who expedited wide-ranging resources and have worked so very hard on this mission.

"We appreciate their commitment to finding these five explorers, and their days and nights of tireless work in support of our crew and their families. This is a very sad time for the entire explorer community, and for each of the family members of those lost at sea. We respectfully ask that the privacy of these families be respected during this most painful time."

Rush 'got unlucky,' friends say

Elizabeth Chuck

Rush, the OceanGate executive who is on board the missing Titan submersible with four other people, is an intelligent explorer who is adept at managing risk, according to longtime friends.

Rush is "one of the most risk-averse people I know,” said Guillermo Söhnlein, who co-founded OceanGate.

Söhnlein said he last spoke with Rush about two weeks before the Titan’s expedition, its third to the Titanic site. Rush did not express any worries about the upcoming voyage.

“If anything, it’s the other way around,” Söhnlein said. “Any explorer will always tell you that on every expedition, on every mission, on every dive, something always goes wrong. You have to anticipate that something is going to go wrong. And the more guides you conduct, the more missions you conduct, the more expeditions you do, the more you start limiting those things.”

Another friend, oceanographer Gregory Stone, said Rush was upfront about the dangers of his missions.

“He wasn’t selling tickets like it was Disneyland. He was telling people exactly what it was — it was a dangerous thing,” Stone said. “He had taken every precaution possible, and he got unlucky. Something happened.”

Pakistani businessman is not a 'risk-taker,' friend says

Dawood, the Pakistani businessman aboard the Titan, is a "quiet and unassuming" person and not a "daredevil" by nature, according to one of his friends.

"I think he would want his legacy and his memory to be one where ... he wouldn't want to be seen as some daredevil, risk-taking explorer," said Bill Diamond, the chief executive of the SETI Institute, a California-based organization that searches for signs of extraterrestrial life. (Dawood is on the group's board of trustees.)

"I think he would want to be remembered as a humble businessman, curious about the world and fascinated by the opportunity to take this excursion and be on this expedition," said Diamond, who spoke to NBC News via Zoom.

Diamond said he believed Dawood would never do anything that would jeopardize the life of his 19-year-old son, Suleman, who is also aboard the Titan.

"I'm sure he would not have brought his son along if he thought this was something seriously dangerous," Diamond said. "I think he knew the risks, at the same time I think he felt that the technology was tried and tested and safe enough."

Coast Guard says 'debris field' found in Titan search area

The Coast Guard said in a tweet at 11:48 a.m. ET that a remotely operated vehicle discovered a "debris field" in the Titan vessel search area.

"Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information," the agency said.

Officials are planning to hold a news briefing at 3 p.m. ET.

Search is a 'needle in a haystack,' expert says

While remaining realistic about the chances of finding the Titan on the vast ocean floor, scientists are still offering a glimmer of hope.

Rob Larter, a marine geophysicist with the British Antarctic Survey, said in London today that it’s incredibly difficult to find an object the size of the Titan in a totally dark environment. He says it’s not going to be found with active sonar from a surface ship, but rather with a towed or autonomous vehicle that’s near the seafloor. Even those vehicles can see just a matter of meters.

“I’ve been involved in searches for hydrothermal vent sites,” he said. “We’ve had the vehicles just a few tens of meters away and missed them and then come back and find them. So it really is, you know, literally it’s just a needle in a haystack situation unless you’ve got a pretty precise location”

Jamie Pringle, an expert in forensic geosciences at Keele University in the United Kingdom, says the first 24 hours are critical in these kinds of rescue operations and that time period has long passed.

“So there’s always a chance. It’s never zero. But I think obviously the longer the time elapses, the lower the chance of success,” he said.

Larter called it a “desperate situation” buy says you try to stay optimistic as long as possible.

“It’s kind of unimaginable if people are alive, trapped in a submersible with oxygen supplies running down,” he said.

Chance of finding survivors 'close to zero,' retired Navy captain says

Corky Siemaszko

With the trapped Titan passengers likely out of oxygen, David Marquet, a retired Navy captain, said today "the probability is perilously close to zero that we will be able to recover them alive."

The Titan had 96 hours worth of oxygen, he told NBC News' Tom Costello.

"Things generally work up to the design spec, but they don’t somehow magically last beyond the design spec," Marquet said, referring to the oxygen estimates.

Dawood's friend says his death would be 'a tremendous loss for the world'

Ammad Adam met Shahzada Dawood at a United Nations conference in February 2020. Dawood gave a speech about empowering women and girls in Pakistan, and Adam was impressed by his remarks. The two kept in touch over the last three years, striking up a friendship via Facebook.

Adam, 34, is now "praying for a miracle" and hoping that Dawood and the four other passengers aboard the Titan will be found alive.

"I can tell you that Shahzada was a real great gentleman, a fine gentleman," he said. "I know everyone says, 'Oh, such and such is a good person,' but he's actually a genuinely kind-hearted person and you could see that in his actions."

Adam said Dawood dedicated much of his adult life to charitable activity, including donating to Covid relief funds in the early days of the pandemic.

"I hope for a miracle from God," Adam said, "because his death would be a tremendous loss for the world. He tries to help people who need help, and we need more people like that."

Teen trapped in missing sub is U.K. business school student

Henry Austin

The youngest of the five people aboard the missing submersible had just completed his first year at the Strathclyde Business School in the Scottish city of Glasgow.

The University of Strathclyde said in a statement that it was “deeply concerned” about Suleman Dawood, 19, “his father and the others involved in this incident.”

“Our thoughts are with their families and loved ones and we continue to hope for a positive outcome,” the statement added.

Weather at site is 'pretty good' for search, marine forecaster says

Julianne McShane

Weather at the scene of the search consists of winds blowing at 14 mph with gusts up to 19 mph, according to a tweet from the Coast Guard , which added that there are 4 to 5 foot swells in the water and the air temperature is about 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Chris Parker, president and chief forecaster at Marine Weather Center , described those conditions as "pretty good," adding that they are mild to moderate for the area, which he said normally experiences higher waves and stronger winds of 30 to 40 knots on the Beaufort Wind Scale .

"An average 30-foot sailboat would be happy in those conditions unless they're going into the wind," he told NBC News of the conditions today.

"Those conditions should not be at all problematic" for the search, he added.

'A lot of the systems worked, but a lot of them really didn’t,' says Discovery Channel host who tested out the Titan

Josh Gates, the host of Discovery Channel’s "Expedition Unknown," told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Wednesday that he tested out the Titan for a possible segment for his show in 2021 and that "a lot of the systems worked, but a lot of them really didn’t" at the time.

"In the course of going out on Titan and diving down inside of it, it just became clear to us at that time that there was a lot that still needed to be worked out with the sub," he said on "Anderson Cooper 360."

"Ultimately, I just felt by the end of that trip that I just couldn’t get comfortable with Titan at that time. I felt that it needed time to go out and do missions and kind of get into a groove before we were going to go and film with it," Gates added.

Gates said the Titan offers a more comfortable fit inside compared to other submersibles due to the carbon fiber i t is partially made out of , allowing it to be larger than other subs that can only fit two to three people.

"On the one hand you have this incredibly innovative, novel design; on the other hand there are a lot of unknowns," he said of the Titan, adding that it has been “very surreal” and “haunting” to watch the search for the missing submersible.

OceanGate CEO has personal connection to famous Titanic victims

Rush, who developed and piloted the missing sub, had a ''pressing need'' to document the Titanic’s watery graveyard — but he had a personal connection to the wreck, as well.

His wife, Wendy Rush, is a great-great-granddaughter of two of the Titanic’s best-known victims, Isidor and Ida Straus. 

Isidor Straus was the co-owner of the Macy’s department store. His wife, Ida, refused to be separated from him when the Titanic started sinking, giving up her own seat on a lifeboat to stay with him on board. Survivors recount seeing them arm in arm on the ship’s deck as it went down. 

Their fate aboard the Titanic was portrayed in James Cameron’s movie, in which an elderly couple choose to spend their last moments in bed together as water comes rushing onboard. Theirs has been remembered as a '' love story for the ages .''

According to the Straus Historical Society, Wendy Rush is the daughter of Dr. Richard Weil III, who is the son of Richard Weil Jr., a former president of Macy’s New York. Weil Jr. is the son of Minnie Straus, Isidor and Ida’s daughter. 

Wendy Rush, née Weil, married Rush in 1986, according to a New York Times wedding announcement . 

A tale of two disasters: Missing sub captivates the world days after deadly migrant shipwreck

Chantal Da Silva

As  rescuers raced to find  the five people who  vanished after launching a mission  to survey the Titanic, another disaster at sea that’s feared to have  left hundreds of people dead  has been swept from the spotlight.

Last week’s sinking of a fishing boat crowded with migrants trying to get from Libya to Italy sparked arrests, violent protests and questions about authorities’ failure to act or find a long-term solution to the issue. But many human rights advocates are frustrated that the world seems to have already moved on and that the resources and media attention being dedicated to the Titan rescue efforts far outweigh those for the sunken migrant ship.

“It’s a horrifying and disgusting contrast,” Judith Sunderland, associate director for Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division, said in a telephone interview, reflecting on the apparent disparities in resources and media attention on the two crises.

“The willingness to allow certain people to die while every effort is made to save others ... it’s a, you know, really dark reflection on humanity,” she said.

Senior British submariner helps with search

Alexander Smith

The British government said today it has dispatched one of its senior submariners, Lt. Cmdr. Richard Kantharia, to assist with the rescue mission.

Kantharia was already embedded in the U.S. Atlantic submarine fleet and joined the rescue effort Tuesday, a spokesperson for No. 10 Downing St. said by email.

Britain is also providing a Boeing C-17 Globemaster aircraft to transport equipment involved with the search.

Dawood family says 'sole focus' is on rescue of father and son

Sabrina Dawood, the sister of Shahzada Dawood, 48, one of the five people on board the Titan along with his 19-year-old son, Suleman, told Sky News in a Facebook message yesterday that "the Dawood family’s sole focus is the rescue of our beloved Shahzada and Suleman Dawood."

"We trust that the family will be granted privacy as we deal with this crisis," she said.

She added the family is also "deeply grateful" for news organizations' "constant coverage" of the missing submersible, but that they "are unable to address any questions or comments at the moment."

Searchers will need to 'get very, very lucky' to find sub, expert says

Simon Boxall, who teaches oceanography at England's University of Southampton, laid out in stark terms the daunting task facing those trying to find the cylindrical vessel. "The only way they are going to succeed is to get very, very lucky," he told NBC News by telephone early today.

On land, he explained, officials would have an array of tools at their disposal, from GPS and infrared tech to old-fashioned binoculars. "Underwater, that all goes out of the window," said Boxall, who believes given the extensive search by air that it's unlikely the craft is still bobbing around on the surface.

One way to scour the seabed is to send a robotic submersible down there with a light and a camera. That would be like going to an area twice the size of Connecticut "with a flashlight and just having a look around for something this small — it’s a big, big task,” he said.

Officials are also relying on sonar: bouncing sound off the seabed to create an image of what's down there, a painstaking task that Boxall likened to painting the Golden Gate Bridge "with a child's paintbrush."

If it lost power, the submersible likely drifted down to the seabed, traveling up to 15 miles on strong, deep-ocean currents that take water all the way to Antarctica, he said. Compounding that, this area is "very bumpy" and there is "this great big thing called the Titanic, which sank in the area, scattering all kinds of things far and wide."

Magellan ROV to assist in today's search efforts

The Magellan “working class” remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, will assist in the day’s search , Rear Adm. John W. Mauger of the Coast Guard said on NBC’s “TODAY” show.

A working class ROV has a manipulator arm that can attach to a hull point and potentially lift it off the surface, Explorers Club President Richard Garriott previously told NBC New York in an interview.

The Explorers Club, a society dedicated to scientific exploration and field study that two Titan passengers — Harding and Nargeolet — are part of, previously criticized the Coast Guard for not permitting the use of the Magellan ROV earlier.

Responding to the criticism, Mauger said: “We really had to start from scratch and bring all the capability that was available to bear on this problem,” adding that officials “made decisions to prioritize” what was closest to the site.

Coast Guard will 'continue with the search and rescue efforts'

Rear Adm. John W. Mauger said on the "TODAY" show that the Coast Guard is "going to continue with the search and rescue efforts" throughout the day despite fears of the oxygen supply on the vessel running out.

"We use all available data and information to prosecute those searches but we continue to find particularly in complex cases that peoples' will to live really needs to be accounted for as well," he said.

Mauger added that "teams were working really hard through the night" and that medical personnel were also moving into the site today.

Two more ROVs deployed

The Horizon Arctic, a Canadian-flagged ship, which is helping with the search and rescue mission, has deployed its remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, which is now on the seabed, the Coast Guard said on Twitter .

Meanwhile, the French government-backed vessel L'Atalante is about to deploy its own ROV, Victor 6000, into the ocean, the Coast Guard said .

Coast Guard's estimated time for oxygen running out reached

It's now 7:08 a.m. ET, the time that the Coast Guard estimated the oxygen on the missing submersible could run out.

The exact situation onboard the vessel, which had 96 hours of oxygen when it set off, according to its specs and Coast Guard officials, is not known.

Experts have pointed out that there are a number of variables that could impact the consumption of oxygen onboard.

"There are so many variables," Simon Boxall, who teaches oceanography at England’s University of Southampton, told NBC News. “We have no idea how long they will actually last in terms of oxygen — all that we know is that it’s imminent.”

Social media users tracking marine traffic in search area via satellite

As the search for the submersible stretched into today, some social media users said they were following the effort and tracking marine traffic in the area via satellite.

"Never in my life would I have thought I’d be awake at 2:50am watching ships, on satellite, looking for billionaires stranded in a sub, AT the Titanic in 2023 but here I am refreshing Twitter again," one user tweeted , writing that the person was using the app MarineTraffic .

"I’ve been checking periodically all night," one user responded just after 4:30 a.m. ET.

"Haven’t been able to tear myself away from the computer for days now," another wrote .

The MarineTraffic app announced yesterday it was “making all positional data, including satellite positions, available for free for the Polar Prince in the ongoing search & rescue mission.”

Impossible to know exactly how much oxygen left in sub, expert says

The Coast Guard predicts the oxygen supply on the submersible will run out at around 7:08 a.m. ET today. But it doesn't quite work like that, according to Simon Boxall, who teaches oceanography at England's University of Southampton.

"There are so many variables," Boxall told NBC News. "We have no idea how long they will actually last in terms of oxygen — all that we know is that it's imminent." One of the main factors governing the rate of oxygen consumption is the physical state of those on board. If their bodies start to shut down due to hypothermia, Boxall said, it would mean "they're using a lot less oxygen" — albeit presenting a new danger for the crew.

Although the Coast Guard has presented this timeline, officials know about these variables, according to Boxall. "It's not like" at 7.08 a.m. the rescuers will "pack up their bags and say, 'Right, we'll do a recovery operation, but we're taking the urgency off," he said. "They will still see this as being very urgent for next couple of days."

2 new vessels arrive on scene, conducting search patterns

Two new vessels have arrived on the scene and are conducting search patterns in the bid to find the Titan, a Coast Guard spokesperson said this morning.

The Canadian CGS Ann Harvey and the Motor Vessel Horizon Arctic, a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, arrived to aid in the bid to find the missing submersible, Petty Officer Ryan Noel said.

The Coast Guard had previously said the two vessels were en route to the search site.

Noel said rescuers were also in the process of trying to get “one of the newer ROVs onsite down there." He could not confirm which ROV that was, but said the Coast Guard would be providing updates as more information became available.

Search patterns show more sea scanned in bid to find the Titan

The Coast Guard released a new image yesterday showing search patterns so far as efforts expanded in the race to find the missing sub.

It also released search patterns Tuesday, with the difference depicted below.

Searchers had covered an area twice the size of Connecticut on the surface, and the search underwater is about 2 ½ miles deep, officials said yesterday.

Ex-senior naval officer has 'no optimism' about underwater noises

The search and rescue mission was given fresh hope after a Canadian aircraft detected "underwater noises" on Tuesday and yesterday. But Chris Parry, a former rear admiral in the British Royal Navy, says he isn't greatly encouraged.

"I've got no optimism about that at all," Parry told NBC News. "Put your head in the water, you’re going to hear a lot of mechanical noises, particularly in the vicinity of a disintegrating wreck like the Titanic."

He called the optimism "clutching at straws."

The Titanic brought them together, and a tiny vessel could doom them

The five-person crew rescuers are racing to find went missing after departing on a mission Sunday morning from the Polar Prince, a Canadian research vessel, to survey the Titanic firsthand.

The passengers are now at the center of a much higher-stakes race against the clock — a frantic international search and rescue effort that must succeed before the 22-foot vessel runs out of oxygen this morning.

The passengers are Rush, who lives in Seattle and served as the vessel’s pilot; Harding, a British tycoon who lives in the United Arab Emirates; Dawood and his son, Suleman, scions of a Pakistani business dynasty; and the French mariner and Titanic expert Nargeolet, who has been nicknamed “Mr. Titanic.” 

The men are likely bound together forever, no matter what happens next.

French deep sea robot arrives to join search

Due to join the hunt today was Victor 6000, an undersea robot dispatched by the French government that has the rare ability to dive deeper than the Titanic wreck.

The French research vessel L'Atalante, which is carrying the robot, has now arrived in the same area as other ships involved in the search as of 4 a.m. ET., according to the tracking website Marine Traffic.

Victor 6000 is so named because it can dive to 6,000 meters — some 20,000 feet. That puts the Titanic, 12,500 feet down, easily within its range.

It's familiar territory for Ifremer, the state-run French ocean research institute that operates the robot and was part of the team that first located the Titanic wreck in 1985. The institute dispatched the remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, this week at the request of the U.S. Navy.

It isn't able to lift the missing submersible own its own, but it could hook up the 10-ton carbon-fiber and titanium tube to another ship capable of bringing it to the surface, Olivier Lefort, the head of naval operations at Ifremer, told Reuters. “This is the logic of seafarers. Our attitude was: We are close, we have to go,” he said.

Desperate search for sub as oxygen supply dwindles

The search for the missing submersible grew more frantic this morning, with officials fearing the oxygen supply on the vessel could soon run out.

Coast Guard officials estimated that the Titan, which had a 96-hour oxygen supply, could run out of air just before 7:10 a.m. ET, but the exact situation onboard the vessel, including potential efforts to conserve oxygen, is not clear.

The search for the sub, which went missing Sunday after embarking on a mission to explore the Titanic, has been focused on an area where Canadian aircraft detected “underwater noises” Tuesday, and again yesterday.

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Experts raised safety concerns about OceanGate years before its Titanic sub vanished

Rachel Treisman

OceanGate uses its Titan vessel to take tourists deep below sea level to visit the Titanic shipwreck. It disappeared in the North Atlantic during one such trip on Sunday. AP hide caption

OceanGate uses its Titan vessel to take tourists deep below sea level to visit the Titanic shipwreck. It disappeared in the North Atlantic during one such trip on Sunday.

Experts from within and outside OceanGate raised concerns about the safety of its Titan submersible as far back as 2018, years before it went missing during a deep-sea dive to the Titanic shipwreck site.

Several of those complaints have resurfaced this week, as the frantic search for the vessel — and its five passengers — continues.

Missing Titanic sub search enters a critical phase as the Titan's oxygen supply drops

"It hasn't surprised us," said Will Kohnen, the chair of the Marine Technology Society's Submarine Committee (formerly the Manned Underwater Vehicles Committee), about the Titan's disappearance. "We've been aware of this project for some time and have had some concerns."

In March 2018, after one of the international industry group's annual conferences, Kohnen drafted a letter to OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush — the pilot of the missing vessel — expressing "unanimous concern" on behalf of its members about the development of the Titan and its planned Titanic expeditions.

"Our apprehension is that the current experimental approach adopted by Oceangate could result in negative outcomes (from minor to catastrophic) that would have serious consequences for everyone in the industry," he wrote, according to a copy obtained by the New York Times .

OceanGate wants to change deep-sea tourism, but its missing sub highlights the risks

NPR has reached out to OceanGate for comment.

Kohnen told Morning Edition 's A Martínez on Wednesday that the group's main concern was a lack of oversight and adherence to industry-accepted safety guidelines.

"Most of the companies in this industry that are building submersibles and deep submersibles follow a fairly well-established framework of certification and verification and oversight, through classification societies," he said. "And that was at the root of OceanGate's project, is that they were going to go solo, going without that type of official oversight, and that brought a lot of concerns."

Deep sea rescues have a mixed track record. The Pisces III is one that succeeded

Kohnen doesn't see Titan's disappearance as a reason to take a step back from deep sea explorations as a whole.

"We have submarines all over the world diving 12,000 to 20,000 feet every day of the year for research," he said. "We know very well how to build and how to design these machines and how to operate them safely."

The same is true for tourism purposes, he adds: "It just gets expensive."

OceanGate's push to innovate worried industry experts

Third-party agencies around the world, like the American Bureau of Shipping and DNV in Europe, are responsible for overseeing structures like ships, oil platforms and submarines to ensure that they're designed to specification, Kohnen explained.

That process involves publishing rules and sending out engineers to review designs and inspectors to witness testing.

Most major marine operators require chartered vessels to be "classed" by one of these independent groups, OceanGate acknowledged in a 2019 blog post . However, it said that process only assesses physical vessels, not a company's operating procedures and decision-making processes, which are more often to blame for accidents.

A former passenger details what it's like inside the missing Titan submersible

The company affirmed its commitment to operational safety and risk mitigation, touting its "constant, committed effort and a focused corporate culture." But it also painted the third-party approval process as "anathema to rapid innovation," its founding principle.

"By definition, innovation is outside of an already accepted system," the blog post reads. "However, this does not mean that OceanGate does meet standards where they apply, but it does mean that innovation often falls outside of the existing industry paradigm."

Kohnen said that while his letter was never officially submitted to OceanGate, he did have a conversation with Rush in which the two "agreed to disagree." He points out that the complaint that regulatory bodies are slow to react to new innovations isn't unique to submarines.

"All industries face the same issue," Kohnen added. "And it is a careful dance of how do you push regulations forward in the face of rapid-changing technology."

The OceanGate logo is pictured on a boat at the Port of Everett Boat Yard in Everett, Wash., on Tuesday. Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

The OceanGate logo is pictured on a boat at the Port of Everett Boat Yard in Everett, Wash., on Tuesday.

A former employee says he was fired after raising concerns

OceanGate's own former director of marine operations also flagged potential safety issues with the Titan around the same time — and says he was fired after doing so, as NPR station WBUR reported .

David Lochridge, himself an experienced submarine pilot, alleged in a 2018 lawsuit that he was fired after raising concerns that the company wasn't properly testing the vessel's carbon fiber hull. He had also pushed for the company to utilize a classification agency to inspect and certify it.

Lochridge said he first raised his safety and quality control concerns verbally to executive management, which ignored them. He then sought to address the problems and offer solutions in a report.

'Tiny sub, big ocean': Why the Titanic submersible search is so challenging

The day after it was submitted, the lawsuit says, various engineering and HR executives invited him to a meeting at which he learned that the viewport of the submersible was only built to a certified pressure of 1,300 meters, even though the Titanic shipwreck lies nearly 4,000 meters below sea level.

Lochridge reiterated his concerns, but the lawsuit alleges that rather than take corrective action, OceanGate "did the exact opposite."

"OceanGate gave Lochridge approximately 10 minutes to immediately clear out his desk and exit the premises," it said.

OceanGate said in legal filings that it had relied on acoustic tests "better suited" to detect safety issues, and accused Lochridge of breaching his contract, according to WBUR.

"The company said Lochridge was not an engineer and refused to accept assurances from the lead engineer that testing was sufficient," WBUR's Walter Wuthmann told Morning Edition .

They settled out of court in 2018.

Previous expeditions haven't all gone smoothly

The Titan made its first dive to the Titanic wreck site in 2021 and returned the following year — though those trips haven't been without issue .

Greek court orders smuggling suspects held pending trial over migrant ship disaster

OceanGate acknowledged in legal filings that the vessel had encountered a battery issue and some external damage during its maiden voyage.

CBS Sunday Morning correspondent David Pogue said the submersible lost contact with the surface crew for about five hours during his expedition in 2022 and told NPR that a mechanical issue forced the vessel to abort a November trip after making it 37 feet down.

He said he's since learned that such dives "rarely go to plan."

"With each of these expeditions that OceanGate makes, they spend five days over the [Titanic] shipwreck," Pogue said. "And typically of those five days, they managed to get down only once or twice. And this season it's been zero."

• deep sea exploration
• Titan submersible

• US & World /

The missing Titanic tour sub is steered with a simple Logitech gamepad

The us navy has used gamepads to control submarine periscopes, while oceangate is using one to operate the five-person titan submersible..

By Richard Lawler , a senior editor following news across tech, culture, policy, and entertainment. He joined The Verge in 2021 after several years covering news at Engadget.

Share this story

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

On Sunday morning, an OceanGate submarine vessel with five people aboard went missing in the Atlantic about an hour and forty-five minutes into a planned trip to explore the wreckage of the RMS Titanic. Made of carbon fiber and titanium, the vessel has enough air for 96 hours; however, as word of the emergency has spread, there’s also shock at the wireless Logitech F710 gamepad used for steering.

The Titan advertises “state-of-the-art lighting and sonar navigation systems plus internally and externally mounted 4K video and photographic equipment,” and this CBS News Sunday Morning segment from David Pogue, taken last summer, showed the reporter laughing as he was shown its controls. OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush holds up the F710, saying, “We run the whole thing... with this game controller.” The reporter refers to the “MacGyver jury-riggedness” of the whole thing, using many off-the-shelf parts, as Rush said, “certain things, you want to be button down,” noting work with Boeing and NASA.

This isn’t entirely unusual — as we’ve mentioned previously, the US Navy uses gamepads to control submarine periscopes and the photonic masts that have replaced them, and The Boring Company has shown an Xbox One controller steering one of its massive drilling machines .

Gamepads are versatile, comfortable, and familiar to use, but I’ve had controllers malfunction during intense matches enough times to raise an eyebrow at seeing a fairly generic wirelessly connected device being relied on for something so important. This isn’t just the periscope, as described by Rush — it’s the vessel itself.

Trips aboard the five-person Titan submersible reportedly cost $250,000 per seat. A release signed prior to the expedition explains that “this experimental vessel has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, emotional trauma, or death.”

Other elements of Pogue’s experience are more distressing. During one of the dives, as he remained on the ship, the submersible got lost for hours and never found the wreckage, while OceanGate shut off internet access during that time, saying it needed all available channels to try to maintain contact with the sub.

It’s unclear what kind of internet connection was available on the ship then, but OceanGate tweeted last week that its 2023 expeditions are relying on Starlink’s satellite internet service to communicate with the outside world. Without GPS, the Titan is guided underwater via text messages sent from the surface ship; however, in a BBC News interview , Pogue noted those might only work when the sub is directly beneath the ship.

He also said in a tweet that it’s not equipped with an emergency locator beacon that might help rescuers find it, either on the ocean floor or once it’s risen to the surface. The submarine is also bolted from the outside, so those in it would need rescuers to get them out, even once it makes its way to the surface, using one of several methods available.

The location of the trip is listed as about 380 nautical miles south of Newfoundland, Canada. The US Coast Guard has been part of the search since Sunday morning, using aircraft with sonar to search underwater, sonar buoys, sonar from the expedition ship, and looking on the surface. The latest update from the Coast Guard said the search area completed as of this morning is 10,000 square miles, and they have scheduled a press briefing for 1PM ET with further updates.

Razer made a million dollars selling a mask with RGB, and the FTC is not pleased

The walls of apple’s garden are tumbling down, in the first autonomous racing league race, the struggle was real, fcc fines at&t, sprint, t-mobile, and verizon nearly $200 million for illegally sharing location data, fiido air review: so lightweight you’ll forget it’s an e-bike.

More from this stream The Titan’s implosion: the latest news on the Titanic wreckage tourist sub

A movie about the failed titan submersible is already in the works, the company behind the doomed titanic tourist submersible has “suspended all exploration and commercial operations.”, crews have begun recovering debris from the titan submersible., mr. beast’s titan sub blue bubble mystery solved..