US Coast Guard Unavailable to Confirm Recovery of Titan Sub Passengers
Rear Admiral Steven Mauger of the US Coast Guard said it is too early to confirm whether the agency will be able to recover the bodies of the five passengers who were on board the Titan sub when it imploded.
“This is an incredibly unforgiving environment,” Mauger said, referring to the depths of the North Atlantic Ocean, where the sub sank.
The site of the fatal accident is believed to be 1,600 feet (487 meters) off the bow of the Titanic wreck. It is in an area where there is no debris from the Titanic.
Mauger said the US Coast Guard had sonar buoys in the water for 72 hours before the sub imploded, but they did not detect any catastrophic events.
“We have nine vessels on the scene right now, as the search for more details continues,” Mauger said. “We have medical personnel on the scene, we have other technicians on scene, and we will begin to demobilize personnel and vessels from the scene over the course of the next 24 hours.”
Mauger said the Coast Guard’s thoughts are with the families of the victims, and that the agency is committed to providing them with as much information as possible about what happened.
“We will continue to investigate the site of the debris field,” Mauger said. “There are a lot of questions about how, why, and when this happened. Those are questions that we will collect now while governments meet and discuss an investigation.”
The US Coast Guard has not released the names of the five passengers who were on board the Titan sub.
The sub was operated by OceanGate Expeditions, a company that specializes in deep-sea exploration. The sub was on a mission to explore the Titanic wreck when it imploded.
The cause of the implosion is still under investigation.