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The Titan submersible imploded, killing all 5 on board, the US Coast Guard says

The race against time to find a submersible that disappeared on its way to the Titanic wreckage site entered a new phase of desperation as the final hours of oxygen left on board the tiny vessel ticked off the clock. (June 22)

A renowned Titanic expert, a world-record holding adventurer, two members of one of Pakistan’s wealthiest families and the CEO of the company leading an expedition to the world’s most famous shipwreck are facing critical danger aboard a small submersible that went missing in the Atlantic Ocean. (June 21)

A surveillance vessel has detected underwater noises in the area where rescuers are searching for a submersible that went missing in the North Atlantic while bringing five people down to the wreck of the Titanic, authorities said Wednesday. (June 21)

FILE - This undated image provided by OceanGate Expeditions in June 2021 shows the company’s Titan submersible. Rescuers are racing against time to find the missing submersible carrying five people, who were reported overdue Sunday night. (OceanGate Expeditions via AP, File)

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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)

U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger, commander of the First Coast Guard District, center at microphone, talks to the media Thursday, June 22, 2023, at Coast Guard Base Boston, in Boston. The U.S. Coast Guard says the missing submersible imploded near the wreckage of the Titanic, killing all five people on board. Coast Guard officials said during a news conference that they’ve notified the families of the crew of the Titan, which has been missing for several days. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger, commander of the First Coast Guard District, talks to the media, Thursday, June 22, 2023, at Coast Guard Base Boston, in Boston. The missing submersible Titan imploded near the wreckage of the Titanic, killing all five people on board, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

This photo provided by OceanGate Expeditions shows a submersible vessel named Titan used to visit the wreckage site of the Titanic. In a race against the clock on the high seas, an expanding international armada of ships and airplanes searched Tuesday, June 20, 2023, for the submersible that vanished in the North Atlantic while taking five people down to the wreck of the Titanic. (OceanGate Expeditions via AP)

FILE - OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush emerges from the hatch atop the OceanGate submarine Cyclops 1 in the San Juan Islands, Wash., on Sept. 12, 2018. Rescuers are racing against time to find the missing submersible carrying five people, who were reported overdue Sunday night, June 18, 2023. (Alan Berner/The Seattle Times via AP, File)

FILE - Submersible pilot Randy Holt, right, communicates with the support boat as he and Stockton Rush, left, CEO and Co-Founder of OceanGate, dive in the company’s submersible, “Antipodes,” about three miles off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., June 28, 2013. Rescuers are racing against time to find the missing submersible carrying five people, who were reported overdue Sunday night, June 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

FILE - In this image released by Action Aviation, the submersible Titan is prepared for a dive into a remote area of the Atlantic Ocean on an expedition to the Titanic on Sunday, June 18, 2023. Rescuers are racing against time to find the missing submersible carrying five people, who were reported overdue Sunday night. (Action Aviation via AP, File)

U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger, commander of the First Coast Guard District, right, listens as Paul Hankins, U.S. Navy civilian contractor, supervisor of salvage, left, talks to the media, Thursday, June 22, 2023, at Coast Guard Base Boston, in Boston. The U.S. Coast Guard says the missing submersible imploded near the wreckage of the Titanic, killing all five people on board. Coast Guard officials said during the news conference that they’ve notified the families of the crew of the Titan, which has been missing for several days. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

FILE - The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Warren Deyampert is docked as a member of the Coast Guard walks past, Tuesday, June 20, 2023, at Coast Guard Base Boston, in Boston. Rescuers are racing against time to find the missing submersible carrying five people, who were reported overdue Sunday night, June 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

FILE - The logo for an OceanGate Expeditions 2019 Titanic expedition is seen on a marine industrial warehouse office door in Everett, Wash., Tuesday, June 20, 2023. Rescuers are racing against time to find the missing submersible carrying five people, who were reported overdue Sunday night. (AP Photo/Ed Komenda, File)

CORRECTS SPELLING OF THE NAME TO HENRI, INSTEAD OF HENRY This photo combo shows from left, Shahzada Dawood, Suleman Dawood, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Stockton Rush, and Hamish Harding are facing critical danger aboard a small submersible that went missing in the Atlantic Ocean. The missing submersible Titan imploded near the wreckage of the Titanic, killing all five people on board, the U.S. Coast Guard announced Thursday, June 22, 2023. (AP Photo/File)

U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick, right, faces reporters as Royal Navy Lt Cdr Rich Kantharia, left, looks on during a news conference, Wednesday, June 21, 2023, at Coast Guard Base Boston, in Boston. The U.S. Coast Guard says sounds and banging noises have been heard from the search area for Titanic submersible. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick, left, faces reporters as Carl Hartsfield, director and senior program manager Oceanographic Systems Laboratory, center, and Paul Hankins, U.S. Navy civilian contractor, supervisor of salvage, right, look on during a news conference, Wednesday, June 21, 2023, at Coast Guard Base Boston, in Boston. The U.S. Coast Guard says sounds and banging noises have been heard from the search area for Titanic submersible. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

In this satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies, from top to bottom, the vessels L’Atalante, 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)

U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick, center at microphone, faces reporters during a news conference, Wednesday, June 21, 2023, at Coast Guard Base Boston, in Boston. The U.S. Coast Guard says sounds and banging noises have been heard from the search area for Titanic submersible. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

FILE - This 2004 photo provided by the Institute for Exploration, Center for Archaeological Oceanography/University of Rhode Island/NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration, shows the remains of a coat and boots in the mud on the sea bed near the Titanic’s stern. Rescuers are racing against time to find the missing submersible carrying five people, who were reported overdue Sunday night, June 18, 2023. (Institute for Exploration, Center for Archaeological Oceanography/University of Rhode Island/NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration, File)

A submersible carrying five people to the Titanic imploded near the site of the shipwreck and killed everyone on board, authorities said Thursday, bringing a tragic end to a saga that included an urgent around-the-clock search and a worldwide vigil for the missing vessel.

The sliver of hope that remained for finding the five men alive was wiped away early Thursday, when the submersible’s 96-hour supply of oxygen was expected to run out following its Sunday launch and the Coast Guard announced that debris had been found roughly 1,600 feet (488 meters) from the Titanic in North Atlantic waters.

“This was a catastrophic implosion of the vessel,” said Rear Adm. John Mauger, of the First Coast Guard District.

After the craft was reported missing, the U.S. Navy went back and analyzed its acoustic data and found an anomaly that was “consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general vicinity of where the Titan submersible was operating when communications were lost,” a senior Navy official told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive acoustic detection system.

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.

OceanGate Expeditions, the company that owned and operated the submersible, said in a statement that all five people in the vessel, including CEO and pilot Stockton Rush, “have sadly been lost.”

The others on board were two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood; British adventurer Hamish Harding; and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” OceanGate said in a statement. “We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.”

OceanGate has been chronicling the Titanic’s decay and the underwater ecosystem around it via yearly voyages since 2021. The company has not responded to additional questions about the Titan’s voyage this week.

The company’s office was “closed indefinitely while the staff copes with the tragic loss of their team member,” according to a statement Thursday by the Port of Everett, which is about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of downtown Seattle and is home to OceanGate.

The Coast Guard will continue searching for more signs about what happened to the Titan.

While the Navy likely detected the implosion Sunday through its acoustics system, underwater sounds heard Tuesday and Wednesday — which initially gave hope for a possible rescue — were probably unrelated to the submersible. The Navy’s possible clue was not known publicly until Thursday, when The Wall Street Journal first reported it.

With a search area covering thousands of miles — twice the size of Connecticut and in waters 2 1/2 miles (4 kilometers) deep — rescuers all week rushed ships, planes and other equipment to the site of the disappearance.

Broadcasters around the world started newscasts at the critical hour Thursday with news of the submersible. The Saudi-owned satellite channel Al Arabiya showed a clock on air counting down to their estimate of when the air could potentially run out.

The White House thanked the U.S. Coast Guard, along with Canadian, British and French partners who helped in the search and rescue efforts.

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

The Titan launched at 6 a.m. Sunday and was reported overdue that afternoon about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. By Thursday, when the oxygen supply was expected to run out, there was little hope of finding the crew alive.

In 2021 and 2022, at least 46 people successfully traveled on OceanGate’s submersible to the Titanic site, according to letters the company filed with a U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, that oversees matters involving the shipwreck. But questions about the submersible’s safety were raised by former passengers .

One of the company’s first customers likened a dive he made to the site two years ago to a suicide mission.

“Imagine a metal tube a few meters long with a sheet of metal for a floor. You can’t stand. You can’t kneel. Everyone is sitting close to or on top of each other,” said Arthur Loibl, a retired businessman and adventurer from Germany. “You can’t be claustrophobic.”

During the 2 1/2-hour descent and ascent, the lights were turned off to conserve energy, he said, with the only illumination coming from a fluorescent glow stick.

The dive was repeatedly delayed to fix a problem with the battery and the balancing weights. In total, the voyage took 10 1/2 hours.

Nicolai Roterman, a deep-sea ecologist and lecturer in marine biology at the University of Portsmouth, England, said the disappearance of the Titan highlights the dangers and unknowns of deep-sea tourism.

“Even the most reliable technology can fail, and therefore accidents will happen,” Roterman said. “With the growth in deep-sea tourism, we must expect more incidents like this.”

Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; Frank Jordans in Berlin; Danica Kirka in London; and John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.

Highlights from Day One as the search for the missing Titanic submersible continues

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

The CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, Stockton Rush, was on board and piloting the missing submersible that vanished during a mission to explore the wreckage of the Titanic , the company said Tuesday.

There is less than 40 hours of oxygen supply left on the missing vessel, named Titan, which is carrying five people, a U.S. Coast Guard official said Tuesday as the search continues.

The submersible is part of an OceanGate Expeditions tour that offers passengers a once-in-a-lifetime experience to explore the Titanic wreckage. It went missing Sunday after it lost contact with the research vessel Polar Prince.

What to know about the missing vessel, Titan

• The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for the missing research submersible, named Titan, that disappeared Sunday.
• The wreckage of the Titanic, the iconic ocean liner that sank more than a century ago, is 900 nautical miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
• The sub had up to 96 hours of oxygen supply and by 1 p.m. ET Tuesday was down to 41 hours, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
• Canadian aircraft detected “underwater noises” in the search area, the U.S. Coast Guard said early Wednesday. It said searches “yielded negative results but continue.”
• The price of a spot on the submersible was $250,000. It was on only its third trip since OceanGate Expeditions began offering trips in 2021.

British billionaire Hamish Harding, owner of Action Aviation, was also among the five people on the vessel , along with French dive expert Paul Henry Nargeolet and prominent Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman.

Aircraft detect 'underwater noises' in the search for missing submersible

Canadian aircraft searching for signs of the submersible detected “underwater noises” in the search area, the U.S. Coast Guard said early Wednesday.

The underwater noises, detected by Canadian P-3 aircraft, prompted searches by remotely operated vehicles, the Coast Guard tweeted shortly before 12:30 a.m. ET.

"Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue," the message read. "Additionally, the data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our U.S. Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans."

A representative said OceanGate was unable to provide any additional information at this time.

Coast Guard image shows search patterns for Titan

Phil Helsel

The U.S. Coast Guard released an image showing the search patterns for Titan.

It said that 10,000 square miles had been searched as of Tuesday and that the searches are ongoing.

Canadian coast guard, navy and private research and commercial vessels with remotely operated vehicles have responded or were en route to help Tuesday, officials said. The U.S. and Canada also have planes searching.

Coast Guard establishes unified command in search for Titan

The U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday night that it and other agencies and searchers are operating under a unified command as the search for the Titan continues.

More than 10,000 square miles had been searched by Tuesday morning, the Coast Guard said, and weather and visibility have improved.

Three Canadian coast guard ships, as well as a commercial vessel and a French research vessel with remote-operated vehicles, and a Canadian navy ship with a mobile decompression chamber were on the way, the Coast Guard said.

The Bahamian research vessel Deep Energy and a U.S. Air National Guard C-130 are also searching, the Coast Guard said.

Friend of man on submersible says he and Hamish Harding's family are hopeful

Tom Costello

Titan submersible passenger Hamish Harding was excited for the voyage down to the ocean’s depths to see the wreckage of the Titanic, friend and business partner Terry Virts said Tuesday.

“He was excited. The text I got was ‘hey, we’re headed down to Titanic today, exclamation point,” Virts, a former NASA astronaut and Air Force F-16 pilot, told NBC News. Harding sent the text early Sunday.

Harding, the owner of Action Aviation, is one of five people aboard the missing Titan submersible, which is the focus of a search in the North Atlantic. He was not worried about the risks but was aware of them, Virts said.

Virts said he and Harding’s family are hopeful.

"The really good news that we have is that we haven’t heard bad news — they haven’t found a wreckage, they haven’t found debris floating, the sonar didn’t pick up any kind of crushing or exploding noise," he said. "So there’s definitely hope that the crew is alive in the submersible."

Search for missing submersible is a ‘monumental task,’ expert says

One of the best-case scenarios that might have happened to the Titan would be if it has been entangled in the wreckage of the Titanic, an ocean explorer and expert said Tuesday.

If that's the case, it could make the submersible with five people aboard easier to find, Tim Taylor, an ocean explorer and the CEO of Tiburon Subsea, said on NBC News Now.

“Lifting the submarine off the bottom is not as hard or difficult as one may think if it’s still intact,” Taylor said.

It’s unclear what happened to the submersible, and searches are ongoing.

“You’re really fighting a clock here,” Taylor said. “They don’t have a lot of options. Every hour that goes by, their options get less and less.”

Getting assets to the area takes time, he said, and when equipment arrives, searchers will have to decide where to look with the time they have.

“This is a monumental task,” he said.

Canada sending ship specializing in dive medicine

A Canadian plane with sonar flew above the area around the Titan, and Canada is sending rescue ships and a vessel equipped with a mobile hyperbaric recompression chamber, officials said.

The Royal Canadian Air Force CP-140 Aurora has been providing sonar searches, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The Royal Canadian Navy ship HMCS Glace Bay has also been dispatched, Canada’s military said.

“HMCS Glace Bay provides a medical team specializing in dive medicine and a six person mobile hyperbaric recompression chamber,” it said in a statement.

A hyperbaric recompression chamber is used to treat or prevent decompression sickness. When divers are exposed to rapid decreases in pressure, nitrogen forms bubbles in tissue and blood.

Two other Canadian coast guard ships were either there or on the way.

U.S. Navy and Air Force sending support to search efforts

Doha Madani

The U.S. Coast Guard is getting help in its search efforts from two other branches of the military.

A spokesperson for the Navy said it was deploying its Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System to assist the Coast Guard. The equipment is specifically designed for the "recovery of large, bulky, and heavy undersea objects," and it has deep ocean lifting capacity.

The Air Force will also provide aid by transporting "rescue-related" cargo from Buffalo, New York, to St. Johns, Newfoundland, it said.

King Charles asks to be updated on Titan passengers

King Charles III "has been asked to be kept up to date, and his thoughts and prayers are with the families and all those involved in the rescue operation," a royal source told NBC News.

Two of those on the submersible, Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son , Suleman, are British citizens.

OceanGate CEO was piloting the sub when it disappeared

Stockton Rush, OceanGate's chief executive, was piloting the submersible, the company confirmed Tuesday.

A spokesperson previously said Rush was on board as a member of the crew.

Pilot said in lawsuit he was fired for warning Titan wasn't safe for deep dives

Corky Siemaszko

The pilot OceanGate hired to run manned tests of submersibles claimed five years ago in court papers that he was fired after he warned that the Titan’s carbon shell was not properly tested to make sure it could descend safely to 4,000 meters.

David Lochridge also claimed OceanGate refused to pay extra for a viewport that could be used safely at a depth of 4,000 meters.

When he complained that OceanGate would be endangering customers, Lochridge said in the court papers, he was given “10 minutes to immediately clear out his desk.”

Lochridge’s claims, which were first reported by The New Republic , were in his counterclaim to a 2018 breach of contract lawsuit OceanGate filed saying he was not an engineer. The two sides settled a few months later.

Titan's depth capabilities were downgraded short of the Titanic

The hull of the Titan vessel "showed signs of cyclic fatigue," according to a January 2020 interview with OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who is aboard the missing vessel. Rush told GeekWire that due to that stress, the hull rating was downgraded to a depth of 3,000 meters, 800 meters short of the Titanic's depth.

In a December 2019 slideshow that appears to have been presented to the Deep Submergence Science Committee of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System, OceanGate listed the depth capability of the Titan as 3,000 meters.

At the time, the CEO was announcing a new round of funding for the company, which he said would go toward funding new vessels that could go deeper than the Titan.

But in 2021, OceanGate announced that Titan, not another vessel, had completed a trip to the Titanic.

There had been no public update about Titan's depth rating since it was downgraded.

On the company’s current webpage , it says the ship is designed for a 4,000-meter depth, despite previous statements made about the vessel's capabilities.

Titan's tiny space includes some bathroom privacy

David K. Li

Despite the Titan's close quarters, passengers do have access to semiprivate bathroom privileges.

"But because our sub is carbon fiber and we have so much space, we actually have a bathroom that is bigger than most private jets’ (bathrooms)," OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush told German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle in 2019 .

"You can put up a little curtain and you have some privacy. Most of our clients and I think even the researchers say that’s a huge thing, because nobody really looks forward to the idea of sitting next to two strangers, shoulder to shoulder, while you go to the bathroom."

Rescue operation faces extreme environment in search for missing sub

Rescuers trying to find a submersible that disappeared on a dive to the wreckage of the Titanic are not only racing the clock as the sub’s oxygen supplies dwindle — they are also battling a harsh and unforgiving environment more akin to outer space than most places on Earth.

“It’s pitch black down there. It’s freezing cold. The seabed is mud, and it’s undulating. You can’t see your hand in front of your face,” historian and Titanic expert Tim Maltin said in an interview with NBC News Now . “It’s really a bit like being an astronaut going into space.”

The deep-diving 22-foot submersible, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, vanished Sunday with five passengers on board, setting off a frantic rescue mission over a stretch of the North Atlantic Ocean roughly 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

But unlike space, humanity’s presence deep in the world’s oceans is minimal, and the technology for search-and-recovery missions is limited.

Read the full story here.

OceanGate CEO called Titan's 2018 christening 'one of the great moments of submersibles'

When it was launched five years ago, the submersible Titan was hailed as a technological wonder of its time.

"This will be one of the great moments of submersibles in that this technology is what we need to explore the ocean depth," OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush said at Titan's 2018 christening in Everett, Washington .

Rush insisted that day that private industry would be the great driving force of ocean exploration with little help from government agencies.

"The days of government funding are gone," he said. "It really needs to be a private enterprise, just as exploration was at the turn of the last century where people with means make the exploration possible."

Promotional documents illustrate tight quarters

Promotional documents for the Titan craft found on OceanGate’s website reveal the tight quarters that the five passengers are currently in.

In a diagram of the manned ship, which is 22 feet by 9.2 feet by 8.3 feet according to the documents, only one of the passengers is able to fully extend their legs. The diagram calls the arrangement the "Typical seating configuration."

In a photograph published on a separate document, a similar configuration was depicted, with a caption saying, "Mission Specialists onboard Titan."

Visibility conditions have improved today for aerial search

Marlene Lenthang

Visibility conditions have significantly improved today for aircraft scouring the surface of the Atlantic Ocean for signs of the missing OceanGate submersible, the Coast Guard said.

“Visibility was very foggy yesterday with very little to no visibility, but was increasing today and they were expecting much better conditions from an aerial search perspective,” Chief Petty Officer Robert Simpson, with the 1st Coast Guard District Public Affairs Office, said Tuesday.

He said the weather at the scene today included 5- to 6-foot waves and 15-knot winds.

In addition to assets from the Coast Guard, Navy and Canadian partners already deployed, civilian research vessels are also volunteering to aid in the search.

OceanGate's CEO is aboard missing submersible

Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, is aboard the missing submersible, the company confirmed Tuesday afternoon.

He is on board as a member of the crew, the company said.

So far search has yielded 'no results'

The extensive search for the missing tourist submersible near the Titanic wreck has yielded "no results," Capt. Jamie Frederick with the 1st Coast Guard District said in a briefing Tuesday.

He said so far the search has been on the surface and under the water using sonar buoys over an area the size of the state of Connecticut. 

The search is ongoing with additional assets on the way to rescue the five people on board the Titan. There’s 41 hours of oxygen supply left on the vessel, "about 40 hours of breathable air," Frederick said.

France sends ship and robot to aid search for missing submersible

France is sending a ship called the Atalante to aid in the search for the missing OceanGate submersible, the French maritime ministry said Tuesday.

The ship was sent out in response to a request from American authorities Monday evening, the ministry said.

The ship, managed by the Ifremer research institute, was on a mission in the area, about a 48-hour drive from the Titanic wreckage. It'll arrive at the search site by 8 p.m. local time Wednesday.

A team from Ifremer will also arrive in Newfoundland on Wednesday morning to operate an exploration robot aboard the ship called Victor6000 that can dive to a depth of 4,000 meters.

Titan got ‘lost’ underwater last summer, CBS correspondent says

David Pogue, a CBS News correspondent, said that last year the submersible got “lost on the sea floor for a few hours,” when he was on an OceanGate expedition to visit the Titanic’s resting place.

“On my expedition last summer, they did indeed get lost for about 5 hours,” Pogue tweeted Monday. A segment on the trip aired in November . 

Pogue wasn’t in the submersible, but was in a control room on a ship at the surface at the time.

He noted the submersible never lost communication with its mother ship. He said the Titan didn’t have a beacon similar to an aircraft’s emergency locator transmitter, but “such a beacon was discussed.” 

“They could still send short texts to the sub, but did not know where it was. It was quiet and very tense, and they shut off the ship’s internet to prevent us from tweeting,” he said Monday. The company claimed it was to keep all channels open in case of a serious emergency, Pogue said.

Why the Titan wasn't safety classed

The missing submersible Titan wasn’t classed by an independent group that sets safety standards, as most chartered vessels are. 

OceanGate said in a blog post in February 2019 that Titan wasn’t classed because its technology was so new and their innovation “falls outside of the existing industry paradigm.”

It said there’d be a “multi-year approval cycle due to a lack of pre-existing standards.”

Classing usually checks if vessels meet standards in buoyancy, number of life rafts and hull materials, the blog post said. OceanGate said that while classing has a safety value, it is “not sufficient to ensure safety.”

'No signal is very bad news,' expert says

Mithil Aggarwal

As a sweeping effort to locate the missing submersible continued, Pengfei Liu, professor of marine hydrodynamics at Britain's Newcastle University, told NBC News that the apparent lack of signal from the vessel is “very worrying.”

Ideally, a submersible should send a signal out every few minutes, he said, but it was not known if OceanGate had detected any recent signals after research vessel Polar Prince lost contact with the sub Sunday. OceanGate did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.

“No signal is very bad news,” the marine hydrodynamics professor said. An equipment failure due to an existing defect, depleted power or external damage could cause a signal outage, he said.

“If the submersible’s hull collapses under the enormous pressure, then survival chances are zero,” he said, adding that locating it in the first place would also be complicated had the vessel gotten stuck at the wreckage, since sonar systems would need to differentiate between the two.

Missing father and son Suleman and Shahzada Dawood pictured

Chantal Da Silva

Shahzada Dawood and son Suleman can be seen in the photo below.

The father, a prominent Pakistani businessman, and his son were identified as being onboard the vessel by family and colleagues.

The father and son, both British citizens, belong to one of Pakistan’s most prominent families, according to The Associated Press.

Their firm invests in agriculture, industries and the health sector, while Shahzada Dawood is also on the board of trustees for the California-based SETI Institute, which searches for extraterrestrial intelligence, according to the news agency.

Submersible was operated with a video game controller

Titan, the missing tourist submersible, was operated by a video game controller and had parts that were described as “off-the-shelf components.”

During a tour of the vessel in a CBS News segment that aired in November, OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush pointed out some of these unexpected features, including a light fixture from CamperWorld and a makeshift toilet with a plastic bottle.

He brought out a Logitech game controller, saying that “we run the whole thing with this.” It was not immediately clear whether the submersible was operated with such a controller during the latest mission.

Game controllers can have a wide range of uses, including by pilots controlling drones, as well as in medical training.

OceanGate’s website describes the five-person submersible as a combination of “ground-breaking engineering and off-the-shelf technology,” the latter of which “helped to streamline the construction, and makes it simple to operate and replace parts in the field.” 

Thoughts of crew and their families driving search efforts

In the desperate search for the missing vessel touring the shipwreck of the Titanic deep in the Atlantic, crews are thinking of the lives of the five people on board first and foremost. 

“The thoughts of the crew members and their families really drive our crews forward and all of the partners that have been working this complex case to make sure we can continue to find them,” Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said Tuesday morning on NBC's "TODAY" show.

Factors such as oxygen levels, intense water pressure, and the remoteness of the area make the search difficult. 

The ship went down Sunday with four days worth of oxygen. The wreckage of the Titanic is also at a depth of 13,000 feet — too deep for typical U.S. Navy subs, which typically go down to 2,000 or 3,000 feet, to descend to. 

Canadian aircraft dropped a sonar buoy into the ocean listening for tapping or talking in an effort to pinpoint the submersible.  

OceanGate Expeditions leading underwater search

OceanGate Expeditions is leading the underwater search for the missing Titanic tourist submersible because the deep-water exploration company “know[s] that site better than anybody else,” Rear Adm. John Mauger with the Coast Guard said on NBC's “TODAY” show Tuesday morning. 

As the search for the 21-foot submersible entered the third day, Mauger said search crews have an “understanding” of where the submersible was operating and searches are being prioritized in those areas. 

The wreckage of the Titanic sits 900 nautical miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Searches are underway with equipment the Coast Guard has brought to the area. The agency's current focus is on getting more assets and technical experts to the scene as fast as possible.

What did the Titanic expedition set out to achieve?

The submersible that disappeared Sunday was on only its third trip since OceanGate Expeditions began offering them in 2021. 

On its website , the company said the expeditions are intended to "further document the Titanic and its rate of decay."

"Given the massive scale of the wreck and the debris field, multiple missions performed over several years will be required to fully document and model the wreck site," it says. "This longitudinal survey to collect images, videos, laser, and sonar data will allow objective assessment of the rate of decay and documentation of the process."

"Qualified explorers have the opportunity to join the expedition as Mission Specialist crewmembers whose Training and Mission Support Fees underwrite the mission, the participation of the science team, and their own training," the company states.

'You just rely on the thing being well made,' past survivor says

For Roger Mallinson, one of two people rescued in the deepest underwater rescue ever, according to Guinness World Records, the search for the missing Titanic tour sub has evoked difficult memories.

Almost 50 years ago, while working on laying a transatlantic telephone cable, Mallinson's submersible hurled toward the sea floor after the rope connecting it with the mothership snapped. Mallinson’s crew of two was trapped for over 80 hours on Aug. 29, 1973, at more than 1,500 feet below sea level as rescuers scrambled to locate his sub around 150 miles off Cork, Ireland.

“You just rely on the thing being well made,” he told NBC News. As hours passed and temperatures dropped, the crew struggled to keep the carbon dioxide levels low, relying on the extra oxygen tank that Mallinson said he had snuck in before the dive.

Locating a submersible is the first challenge he said, which could be done by sonar, but he added it could be difficult to locate if the sonar is obstructed. Bringing the crew back up is another challenge. “What complicates a rescue mission is, whether they lift it from the surface or they do it from the bottom by adding buoyancy to the submersible."

Regardless, the crew inside has little options at their disposal, he said. They could be transmitting via the sea telephone but if they haven't already, "something very drastic must have happened by now," he said.

Behind the U.S. Coast Guard's search

U.S. Coast Guard officials said they have "brought all assets that we have available" to the search to find the missing sub.

Speaking at a news conference on Monday afternoon, Rear Adm. John Mauger, who is leading the search, said the Coast Guard had brought in technical experts, dropped sonar buoys to listen for underwater noise and reached out to other government agencies and private contractors for aid and “to really better understand what an undersea search and rescue effort would look like."

In addition, Coast Guard officials said they had deployed two C-130 aircraft for an aerial search and that the sonar buoys can listen to a depth of 13,000 feet. The New York National Guard is providing a third C-130, and the Canadian Coast Guard provided a C-130, as well as a P8 Poseidon aircraft that has underwater detection capabilities.

The U.S. Coast Guard said it is also relying on commercial boat operators that were already in the nearby waters, as well as OceanGate’s mother ship, Polar Prince, for help.

Mauger added at the news conference that the Coast Guard is working to expand its capabilities to include an underwater search, as well.

Sub had up to 96 hours of oxygen supply, Coast Guard says

The search to find the missing submersible has become a race against time, with Coast Guard officials saying the sub had a 96-hour oxygen "reserve capacity."

“We really brought all assets that we have available to us to bear on finding the submersible and the people in it,” Rear Adm. John Mauger said at a news conference on Monday. “When something happens on the high seas, it gets complicated quickly," he added.

On a website page for the missing vessel, Titan, OceanGate Expeditions also describes the sub as having a “life support” of 96 hours for five crew members.

Asked how much of the 96 hours were left, Mauger said on Monday that officials anticipated there were somewhere between 70 to the full 96 hours available.

Map: Where is the Titanic located?

Max Butterworth

The Titanic wreck is located around 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada in the North Atlantic Ocean. It sits on the ocean floor in two main sections at a depth of about 12,500 feet.

The luxury liner sank in 1912 on its maiden voyage to New York from Southampton, England after it hit an iceberg, taking the lives of over 1,500 passengers. 

Since it’s discovery in 1985, the wreck has been the site of numerous expeditions, including a recent full-size digital scan , revealing the remains in never before seen detail. 

The RMS Titanic Expedition Mission 5 submersible in the early hours of Sunday morning.

‘This could be the end’: NY writer describes trip on missing sub

Mike Reiss, a New York-based writer and producer who has worked on The Simpsons, says he was among the explorers to take a trip on the Titan sub last year.

"Yes, the sub that’s gone missing is the same one I took down to the Titanic. I wish everyone involved the best of luck," Reiss said in a Twitter post .

Speaking with BBC Breakfast in the U.K., Reiss said: “You sign a massive waiver that lists one way after another that you could die on the trip. They mention death three times on page one so it’s never far from your mind.”

“As I was getting onto the sub my thought was this could be the end," he said. “So nobody who’s in this situation was caught off guard. You all know what you are getting into."

What is a submersible?

The vessel that has gone missing is a submersible — not to be confused with a submarine.

Unlike a submarine, which is a fully autonomous craft "capable of renewing its own power and breathing air," a submersible relies on outside support, such as a surface vessel, a team onshore or sometimes even a larger submarine, according to OceanGate Expeditions, the company behind the Titanic tour dive.

The vessel that went missing is named Titan, according to The Associated Press . NBC News was not immediately able to confirm this. On its website, OceanGate describes its Titan vessel as a "revolutionary carbon fiber and titanium submersible with a depth range of 4,000 meters (13,123 feet) that provides access to almost 50% of the world’s oceans."

"Titan ushers in a new era of crewed submersible exploration and is the only sub in the world that can take five crewmembers to these depths," it says.

Titanic tour firm offered up-close experience for $250,000

David Ingram

Modern in-person tourism at the Titanic is still in its infancy. The  submersible that disappeared Sunday  near the Titanic wreckage was on only its third trip since the company OceanGate Expeditions began offering them in 2021. 

OceanGate had been promoting the third dive for months on its website and in Facebook posts, offering the chance to “follow in Jacques Cousteau’s footsteps and become an underwater explorer” — for the price of $250,000. 

“ Become one of the few to see the Titanic  with your own eyes,” the tour company said on its website. The ticket comes with a title: “mission specialist.” 

Participants have included a chef, an actor, a videographer and someone who worked in banking, the company said on Facebook. One of the customers said on Instagram last year that it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that lived up to her expectations. 

First full-size scan showed Titanic wreck as never seen before

Henry Austin

Few people will ever get the opportunity to survey the wreckage of the Titanic up close — a bid that was at the heart of Sunday's mission when the Titan vessel went missing.

The first first full-size digital scan of the  Titanic  recently revealed the world’s most famous shipwreck as never seen before, however, and experts are hopeful it will provide more insight into how the liner came to sink in 1912. 

What we know about missing billionaire Hamish Harding

Hamish Harding, a billionaire and the owner and chairman of Action Aviation, is among the five people onboard the missing vessel.

Action Aviation, established in 2004, is described on its website as a global sales company in business aviation.

A post Sunday on Harding’s Instagram account said he was joining OceanGate’s expedition “as a mission specialist” — typically a one-time crew member who pays a fee to join the effort.

"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 said in his post. He said that a "weather window" had just opened up and that the team was going to attempt a dive the following day.

"Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do," he said.

Pakistani businessman and son were onboard sub, family says

A prominent Pakistani businessman, Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, were among the five people onboard the vessel when it went missing, family and colleagues said.

“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 family said in a statement provided by Engro, a company where Dawood serves as vice chairman of the board.

"We, at Engro, remain in prayer for their swift and safe return, and will share any updates we may have as and when they come," the company said.

Hamish Harding , the billionaire owner and chairman of Action Aviation, was previously identified as one of the missing crew members. The other two people who were onboard the vessel have yet to be identified.

Search continues for missing Titanic tour submersible

The U.S. Coast Guard continues its search on Tuesday for the missing submersible that disappeared Sunday after it departed for a mission to explore the wreck of the Titanic.

The 21-foot submersible and its five-person crew started a dive Sunday morning from the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince, the Coast Guard said. But the Polar Prince lost contact with the vessel after an hour and 45 minutes and it remains missing.

The missing submersible  —  named Titan,  according to The Associated Press   —  is part of a tour offered by private company OceanGate Expeditions exploring the Titanic wreckage, 900 nautical miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

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A search is underway for a missing submersible that brings tourists to the Titanic

Juliana Kim

This undated photo provided by OceanGate Expeditions in June 2021 shows the company's Titan submersible. AP hide caption

This undated photo provided by OceanGate Expeditions in June 2021 shows the company's Titan submersible.

A submersible known for taking tourists into the deep sea to view the Titanic wreckage has gone missing in the Atlantic Ocean.

The U.S. Coast Guard is working with Canada's coast guard and armed forces to search for the 21-foot vessel that lost communication with its control center.

"The 5 person crew submerged Sunday morning, and the crew of Polar Prince lost contact with them approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes into the vessel's dive," the U.S. Coast Guard Northeast wrote on Twitter .

At a press conference on Monday, Rear Admiral John Mauger of the U.S. Coast Guard said search and rescue teams are using aircrafts to scan the ocean, as well as sonar devices to detect possible underwater sounds coming from the submersible.

A remarkable new view of the Titanic shipwreck is here, thanks to deep-sea mappers

Mauger did not disclose the identities of the people on board but confirmed that officials are in process of notifying the passengers' families.

The vessel lost communications at about 435 miles (380 nautical miles) south of St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada's Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, said on Twitter .

The missing vessel is owned by OceanGate, a company based in Washington state that offers underwater voyages to explore the remains of the iconic shipwreck from the seafloor.

"We are exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely," the company said in a statement .

Its vessels are "equipped with some basic emergency medical supplies and 96 hours of life support," according to the company's website via the Wayback Machine . It takes approximately 2.5 hours to return back to the surface from the seabed, according to OceanGate.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told NPR that it is also aware of the missing submersible and is closely monitoring the situation.

The company's deep sea tour lasts about eight days and costs $250,000 per person. From St. John's in Newfoundland, Canada, explorers travel 380 miles offshore and 2.3 miles below the surface, according to the company's website .

The company gained popularity in recent years for its expeditions to the Titanic, and most recently the group created the first-ever-full-sized digital scan of the shipwreck.

Not the first time an OceanGate submersible was lost

This is not the first time an OceanGate submersible has gone lost, according to David Pogue, a correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning .

Pogue, who traveled on an OceanGate expedition to see the Titanic last summer, recalled that the control room was unable to help the submersible locate the wrecked liner for roughly three hours due to technical difficulties.

"The difference this year is that it seems like they lost contact with the ship," Pogue told NPR. "They can't even reach the sub and that's really scary."

The deep sea is difficult to navigate because there is no GPS or radio signals underwater, according to Pogue. The submersible relies on directions sent by the control center.

"All of these submersibles have been kind of janky," Pogue said.

He added that factors like bad weather and mechanical issues can hinder the expedition. In fact, the vessels rarely make it to the Titanic, despite the expensive price tag, according to Pogue.

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
• RMS Titanic
• 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.

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Search operations for missing Titanic sub continue

Not many ships that have equipment to reach those depths, one expert said.

Nautical experts, the U.S. and Canadian navies and the U.S. Coast Guard are scrambling to get the necessary equipment and personnel to help locate the five people in the tour submersible that left Sunday to view the wreckage of the Titanic.

But even with their specialized tech, search and rescue teams are facing major obstacles that could make saving the people onboard extremely difficult, according to a former Navy submarine commander.

Retired Capt. David Marquet told ABC News on Monday that this type of rescue operation is complicated because there are no U.S. or Canadian underwater vessels nearby that can go as deep as the Titanic wreckage, which sits 13,000 feet below the ocean's surface. The ocean is also pitch-black at that depth, creating another major problem, he said.

"The odds are against them," Marquet said. "There's a ship in Boston that has this ability to either lower cable and connect to it or have a claw. It's still a thousand miles away."

MORE: Submersible on Titanic tour reported missing off Newfoundland with 5 people aboard

However, on Wednesday a U.S. Navy official told ABC News it had sent a portable crane system that can reach 20,000 feet deep to St. John’s, Newfoundland, so it can be welded onto a ship to take it to the search area for the missing submersible.

It could be days before the crane can be used because the Navy has not yet contracted a ship for use with the FADOSS system.

“Our estimate is (an) approximately 24 hours around the clock operation to weld it and secure it to the deck of the vessel prior to getting underway,” the official said.

The submersible vessel is designed to hold 96 hours of oxygen, Rear Adm. John Mauger, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard First District, told reporters Monday. The air is predicted to run out Thursday morning, according to the Coast Guard.

On Monday, the Coast Guard said it had conducted a search of the surface of the water for the missing submersible in conjunction with the Canadian Coast Guard and Canadian Armed Forces.

The Bahamian research vessel Deep Energy, which specializes in pipe-laying and has remotely operated vehicle capabilities, arrived on Tuesday morning to help with the search.

The Pentagon said Tuesday that three U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo aircraft were transporting commercial equipment from Buffalo, New York, to St. John’s, Newfoundland, to aid the rescue efforts.

MORE: Missing Titanic tourist submersible live updates

Additionally, the Navy announced it was sending experts and a Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System, or FADOSS, which it described as 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.”

The New York Air National Guard’s 106 Rescue Wing out of Westhampton, which flies out a version of the C130 that specializes in search and rescue, was deployed to help with the search, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Tuesday.

The 106th flies fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft and rescue helicopters and has a unit of pararescue jumpers who are trained to rescue people on sea and land, according to the governor's office.

Early morning on Wednesday, Canadian aircraft with sonar capabilities detected "underwater noises" in the search area. Coast Guard crews said they did not know what was causing the noise.

If the search parties can locate the submersible and lower a cable, it will be extremely difficult to safely navigate the waters and attach it, Marquet said.

"You've got to get it exactly right. It's sort of like ... getting one of those toys out of those arcade machines. In general, you miss," he said.

Rescuers do have one advantage, Marquet said, as weather conditions off the coast of Newfoundland are not rough and will not disturb any boat or vessel there.

The 21-foot submersible lost communication with the mainland 1 hour and 45 minutes after it embarked on its tour of the Titanic wreckage on Sunday.

MORE: Video US Coast Guard briefs on missing submersible with five believed to be aboard

In ABC News’ interview with Marquet earlier this week, he said if the five people are still alive, their best course of action would be to sleep to conserve their oxygen.

"We would put the vast majority of the crew to sleep because that's when you're using the least amount of oxygen and you're expelling the least amount of carbon dioxide," he said.

ABC News' Luis Martinez and Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.

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• Titanic submersible

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Canadian aircraft detects underwater noises during search for missing submersible, US Coast Guard says

Editor's note: This page reflects the news of the missing submarine from Tuesday, June 20. For the latest updates on the race against time in the search for the missing tourist submersible, follow our live updates for Wednesday, June 21 .

Underwater noises were detected in the North Atlantic Ocean while U.S. and Canadian crews searched for the small vessel carrying five people that vanished two days earlier in a dive to the Titanic wreckage site , the U.S. Coast Guard announced early Wednesday.

A Canadian aircraft heard "underwater noises in the search area," the Coast Guard said on Twitter shortly before 12:30 a.m. ET. The noises prompted remotely operated vehicle operations to search for the origin of the noises.

"Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue," the Coast Guard said on Twitter. "Additionally, the data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our U.S. Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans."

U.S. and Canadian ships and aircrafts had intensified search efforts Tuesday amid oxygen supply concerns. As of Tuesday morning, a total of 10,000 square miles had been searched, according to the Coast Guard.

Capt. Jamie Frederick of the First Coast Guard District in Boston said the Titan, as the submersible is known, had "about 40 hours of breathable air left" around 1 p.m. ET Tuesday, meaning its oxygen supply could get depleted by Thursday morning.

He added that an underwater robot had started searching in the vicinity of the Titanic and that there was a push to get salvage equipment to the scene in case the sub is found. Besides that, three C-130 aircraft and three C-17 transport planes from the U.S. military have been aiding the search, and the Canadian military said it provided a patrol aircraft and two surface ships.

Still, the remote location − 900 miles east of Cape Cod and up 13,000 feet below sea level − make the pursuit "an incredibly complex operation,'' Frederick said.

The carbon-fiber submersible had a 96-hour oxygen supply when it went to sea at about 6 a.m. Sunday, according to David Concannon, an adviser to OceanGate Expeditions, the deep-sea exploration company that owns the vessel.

The five-person watercraft was reported overdue Sunday night. It had lost contact with its support ship, the Canadian research icebreaker Polar Prince, about an hour and 45 minutes after submerging.

Among those aboard are OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who was piloting the Titan, British adventurer Hamish Harding, two members of a Pakistani business family, and a Titanic expert.

LATEST NEWS: Missing Titanic submarine live updates: Noises detected in search; company faced safety questions

Jim Bellingham, a Johns Hopkins University expert on deep-sea operations, told USA TODAY that there are three possible locations for the submersible. One possibility is that it could be floating on the ocean's surface after an electrical failure or some other mishap; another is that it is drifting in the water column − anywhere between the surface and the bottom − because it became buoyantly neutral; or it could be on the sea floor, perhaps tangled with something that won't let it float to the top.

The first one is by far the best position, Bellingham said, because even though it would be difficult to spot the 21-foot-long Titan amid the waves, "the Coast Guard is just awesome at this. They have amazing capability to see something pretty small in the ocean."

'Banging' noise heard during search, internal memo says

Crews detected “banging” and “acoustic feedback” sounds Tuesday while searching for the Titan submersible, according to an internal memo sent to Department of Homeland Security leadership that was obtained by Rolling Stone and CNN .

A Canadian aircraft heard the banging sounds every 30 minutes, according to the memo. Additional sonar was deployed and the banging could still be heard four hours later. The internal update did not state what time the banging was heard or exactly how long it lasted.

In an update Tuesday night, crews said more acoustic feedback was heard.

"Additional acoustic feedback was heard and will assist in vectoring surface assets and also indicating continued hope of survivors," according to the update.

It is unclear if an early Wednesday update from the Coast Guard is related to the internal memo.

Pennsylvania explorer says it will be 'difficult' to find Titan

Pennsylvania explorer and CEO of Hagen Construction, Fred Hagen, visited the Titanic wreckage twice aboard the now-missing Titan submersible.

Hagen shared his concerns and worries about the crew's safety, especially with his two friends, Nargeolet and Rush, aboard. He said it will be very difficult to find the Titan, "because it was difficult to find the Titanic."

On his two trips aboard the Titan in 2021 and last summer, Hagen said the submersible lost contact with its mother ship on the ocean's surface at times but was able to re-establish communications. He fears that won't be the case here but said he didn't want to give up hope and that there "could be an act of God" to save the ship.

-Peg Quann, Bucks County Courier Times

A challenging search operation

Rear Adm. John Mauger, commander of the First Coast Guard District, told NBC’s "Today" show Tuesday that his crews were working to prioritize underwater search efforts and get equipment there. Experts told The Associated Press the challenges are difficult.

Alistair Greig, a professor of marine engineering at University College London, said submersibles typically have a drop weight, which is "a mass they can release in the case of an emergency to bring them up to the surface using buoyancy." A power failure would leave the vessel "bobbing" on the surface, he said.

There could also be a leak in the pressure hull, he said.

"If it has gone down to the seabed and can’t get back up under its own power, options are very limited," Greig said. "While the submersible might still be intact, if it is beyond the continental shelf, there are very few vessels that can get that deep, and certainly not divers."

What you need to know about sub: Maps, graphics show last location, depth and design

Report: Experts warned OceanGate of 'catastrophic' outcome

OceanGate, the company that operates the missing submersible, was warned its approach to the enterprise could have a "catastrophic'' outcome, according to a 2018 letter written by leaders in the submersible craft industry obtained by The New York Times .

The letter was addressed to OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush − who's on board the current voyage, according to the company − by members of the Marine Technology Society, an organization that advocates for ocean technology and education.

The 30-plus signatories said they were apprehensive about the company's “experimental” approach to its planned exploration of the Titanic wreckage and about the vessel's design, believing they could lead to safety problems that would have a negative impact on the industry as a whole.

The letter also says OceanGate's claim that its watercraft design meets or surpasses safety standards is "misleading to the public and breaches an industry-wide professional code of conduct we all endeavor to uphold.''

Passengers asked to help with tasks, limit toilet use

OceanGate Expeditions' website, accessed through the Internet Archive by USA TODAY, said all passengers on expeditions are required to be briefed on safety requirements and how to don what it described as a "survival suit."

A survival suit can protect people from freezing water and some specialized suits can act as a raft approved for use when submerged up to 600 feet , according to the Department of Defense. OceanGate's website didn't specify what kind of suit passengers have access to. The Titan takes passengers down more than 13,000 feet.

Passengers on the submersible are also advised to "restrict your diet before and during the dive to reduce the likelihood that you will need to use the facilities," the website says. 

Those going on submersible diving expeditions have to be at least age 18 and able to demonstrate basic strength and balance requirements, such as climbing a ladder and carrying 20 pounds, the site says. 

Passengers might assist with a variety of tasks on the submersible, the website says, including sonar operation, taking photos or videos and assisting the pilot with communications between the sub and the surface. 

Organ failure a major threat as oxygen levels dip

Dr. Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, said those aboard the submersible would be experiencing organ failure as oxygen levels dip and less of it flows to the brain. This leads to weakness, confusion and loss of consciousness.

"If somebody has a pre-existing heart condition, that may precipitate a problem as those low oxygen levels develop," Rizzo said.

Anxiety and fear, speech and a faster heart rate can increase the amount of oxygen a person uses, he added.

"There's a lot of unknowns here as to how the oxygen is supplied in the submersible itself, but it really depends on the rate at which each individual consumes the oxygen as to how long it's going to last," he said.

The submersible's ability to filter out carbon dioxide is also a concerning factor if compromised, said Dr. Alexander Isakov, Emory University emergency medicine physician and a former diving medical officer with the U.S. Navy. High carbon dioxide levels are dangerous and can lead to fatigue, hyperventilation, coma and death, he said.

Life-threatening hypothermia is also a concern, he said. The submersible's ability to maintain a comfortable temperature is essential amid the extreme cold of the ocean's depths.

− Nada Hassanein

Where is the search area for the submersible?

The U.S. Coast Guard in Boston is combing the ocean surface and below water in search of the submersible, using tools including sonar technology and aircraft.

The location − about 900 miles east of Cape Cod and up to 13,000 feet deep − complicates the task, as does the need to look both on the ocean surface and below, the Coast Guard said.

"We are deploying all available assets to make sure that we can locate the craft and rescue the people on board," Mauger said.

When did the Titanic submarine go missing?

The craft launched Sunday morning, but its support vessel lost contact with it about an hour and 45 minutes later, according to the Coast Guard.

The Titan disappeared in the North Atlantic Ocean, the remote area where the massive ocean liner the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in 1912. All but about 700 of the roughly 2,200 passengers and crew died.

The Titan was being launched from an icebreaker hired by OceanGate and formerly operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. The ship ferried dozens of people and the submersible to the North Atlantic site, where the Titan makes multiple dives.

Where is the wreckage of the Titanic?

This was OceanGate Expedition's third annual voyage to the Titanic since 2021. The ship is at a depth of nearly 2½ miles. The Washington-based deep-sea exploration company has taken archaeologists, marine biologists and tourists to the site of the wreckage.

Who is on board the submersible?

The Coast Guard said one pilot and four “mission specialists” were aboard. “Mission specialists” are people who pay to come along on OceanGate’s expeditions. They take turns operating sonar equipment and performing other tasks in the submersible.

An initial group of tourists in 2021 paid $100,000 to $150,000 apiece to visit the wreck site. OceanGate’s website described the “mission support fee” for the 2023 expedition as $250,000 a person.

British businessman Hamish Harding, who lives in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, was one of the mission specialists, according to Action Aviation, a company for which Harding is chairman.

Closer look at the people on board: Who is on the missing Titanic submersible? Passengers include Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood

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

Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, members of one of Pakistan's most prominent families, also were on board, according to a family statement sent to The Associated Press. The family is known for investments in agriculture, industry and the health sector. Shahzada Dawood also is on the board of trustees for the California-based SETI Institute, which searches for extraterrestrial intelligence.

French explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet also was on board, according to David Gallo, a senior adviser for strategic initiatives and special projects at RMS Titanic. Gallo identified Nargeolet, a friend who has led multiple expeditions to the Titanic, on Tuesday during an interview with CNN.

CBS correspondent describes getting 'lost' on previous submersible trip

CBS News correspondent David Pogue tweeted about his experience last year joining the crew and a group of tourists to see the wreck, but he said the submersible "got lost for a few hours" on that trip.

"There's no GPS underwater," and communications between the submersible and a surface ship guiding it broke down on part of that trip, too, Pogue said in his report , which aired in November.

"An experimental submersible vessel that has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body ... could result in physical injury, disability, emotional trauma or death," Pogue read from a form he signed on camera in the report.

The submersible has about as much room as a minivan, Pogue said. "I couldn't help noticing how many pieces of this sub seemed improvised," Pogue said, showing viewers what he described as a small "sort-of" toilet.

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush showed Pogue a video game controller and said it was used to "run the whole thing."

Rush said important components of the submersible like the pressure vessel were solidly engineered alongside NASA, Boeing and the University of Washington. "Everything else can fail. Your thrusters can go, your lights can go, you're still going to be safe," Rush told Pogue.

One member of that trip, bank executive Renata Rojas, said she had been booked on three Titanic dives that were all canceled.

What is a submersible?

 A submersible is a vessel in the submarine family but smaller and less self-sufficient than the classic military sub.

Contributing: Francisco Guzman, Donovan Slack, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

Daughter of explorer killed in Titan sub says to keep exploring Titanic wreck

D eep sea explorer Paul Henri-Nargeolet was one of the four tragically killed when the ‘OceanGate’ submersible imploded near the Titanic last year.

But his daughter, Sidonie Nargeolet, says she believes expeditions to the Titanic wreck should continue, despite the fate of her father.

In June last year, the vessel, which was carrying four people, was destroyed by a ‘catastrophic implosion’, killing those on board .

Days after the implosion,  debris from the doomed Titan was brought to shore , with reports of  apparent human remains being found  – and  3D animations showed what the tragic implosion might have looked like .

Speaking to Pen News, 40-year-old Sidonie claimed nobody from OceanGate, who built the doomed submersible, had reached out to her after the devastating event.

She said she is ‘angry’ that nobody from the company contacted her to express sympathy for the loss of her parent.

But despite her father’s death, Sidonie believes future expeditions to the Titanic wreckage should go ahead.

‘I think they have to do it,’ she said.

‘We don’t have to make a confusion with a bad sub and a good one, you know?

‘I think it’s good that people go on the sub and it’s good to take artifacts from the Titanic, but just not to play with security, the lives of people.’

Sidonie’s father had earned the nickname ‘Mr Titanic’ from his multiple expeditions down to the wreck.

She shared that she was ‘used’ to her father’s expeditions, and it was ‘normal’ for her.

‘I never wondered if the submersible was a good one or not. He told me that the Titan was a new kind of sub, but he didn’t tell me he was worried about it,’ she said.

The 40-year-old only began to panic when her stepmother sent her a message saying the submersible hadn’t returned to the surface in time.

She held out hope for four days, until the US Coastguard announced that the vessel had been lost.

‘We had four days to get prepared for it, but anyway, it’s hard to accept,’ Sidonie said.

‘We heard it was all done, but it’s really hard to to realise because we don’t see any body, you know?

‘So it’s like he’s gone – okay, but we have nothing to say goodbye to.’

In honour of her father’s legacy, Sidonie has helped to translate her his book, Dans les profondeurs du Titanic  (In the depths of the Titanic) into English, so that more people could read it.

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