The U.S. Coast Guard announced that debris retrieved from the submersible, which tragically imploded during a recent expedition to explore the wreckage of the Titanic, contained what is believed to be human remains.
The salvaged fragments of the Titan vessel were offloaded from the Canadian ship Horizon Arctic at the Canadian Coast Guard pier in St. John’s, Newfoundland, on Wednesday morning.
Later that day, the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed that it had taken possession of the recovered debris and evidence, including presumed human remains, that had been retrieved from the ocean floor following the incident, which claimed the lives of five individuals.
The Coast Guard had said that the evidence found would be transported to a U.S. port for further evaluation and analysis by the Marine Board of Investigation.
Captain Jason Neubauer, Chair of the Marine Board of Investigation, expressed that the evidence would provide crucial insights to investigators from various international jurisdictions regarding the cause of the tragedy. He emphasized the need to comprehend the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the Titan and to prevent similar incidents from occurring again: “There is still a tremendous amount of work to be done to understand the cause that led to the catastrophic loss of the Titan and help ensure a similar tragedy does not occur again.”
According to an insider familiar with the situation, the Marine Board of Investigation has been in contact with the families of those who were on board the Titan, providing support during this difficult time.
The Canadian Coast Guard, as previously stated, has remained on-site, offering assistance and support to the recovery and salvage operations as requested by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Boston.
The National Transportation Safety Board confirmed that the U.S. Coast Guard is leading the investigation into this fatal incident and expressed its intention to contribute to their efforts.
Tom Haueter, a former investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, described the probe as uncharted territory and anticipated that it could take several months to analyze the failures.
“This is the first fatality on a passenger carriage submarine I can think of and certainly the first one going into Titanic at this depth,” Haueter commented.
Haueter explained that a significant aspect of the investigation would involve metallurgy specialists examining the materials used in constructing the submersible to determine potential points of failure. He also pointed out that the investigation might reveal insights from the pressure vessel area, where the passengers were located.
“Was it a hatch failure or is it the bolts on the hatch? Was it part of the composite shell?” questioned Haueter. “And taking a look at all these different pieces to see, is there fatigue crack?”
Additionally, investigators will scrutinize the submersible’s design, diving history, and maintenance. The knowledge gained from this analysis could contribute to improvements within this relatively small industry.
Haueter believed that valuable lessons could be learned from the investigation to enhance safety measures for future descents to great depths and under high pressures: “I think there are things they’ll be able to learn to say, OK, if we’re going to do this again and allow people to descend to these incredible depths and amazingly high pressures, that there are things that should be considered when developing these types of vehicles.”
On Wednesday evening, the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada, which is assisting in the investigation, reported that they had concluded the collection of pertinent documents and conducted preliminary interviews with individuals aboard the support vessel Polar Prince. The TSB has retrieved the Polar Prince’s voyage data recorder and sent it to their engineering lab in Ottawa, Canada, for further examination.
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The Royal Canadian Mounted Police stated over the weekend that they are currently examining the circumstances surrounding the deaths.