An expert who had a “direct connection” to the ships searching for the missing tourist submersible that was bound for the Titanic wreck says the vessel likely imploded so fast the men aboard wouldn’t have known what was happening.
OceanGate, the company behind the sub named Titan, released a statement on Friday morning confirming the five men aboard – CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet – had “sadly been lost”.
The US Coast Guard had earlier confirmed the extensive search and rescue effort found a “debris field” near the Titanic.
And Rear Admiral John Mauger later informed reporters analysis showed that debris, found on the sea floor 500 metres from the bow of the Titanic, was consistent with the implosion of the sub’s pressure chamber.
He said that the debris included the sub’s tail cone as well as additional debris nearby.
Before the results of the analysis was revealed by authorities, David Mearns, who specialises in deep water search and recovery operations, warned they don’t use phrases like “debris field” unless there’s no chance of a recovery of the men alive.
“A debris field implies a break-up of the submersible … that really sort of indicates the worse case scenario, which is a catastrophic failure, generally that’s an implosion,” he told Sky News.
“The only saving grace about that is that it would have been immediate, literally in milliseconds, and the men would have had no idea what was happening.”
Mr Mearns, who was friends with two on-board and is part of a group called The Explorers Club, which has a line to the rescue effort, said his worst fears had been realised.
He said a landing frame and rear cover from the submersible was among the debris found.
“Again this is an unconventional submarine, that rear cover is the pointy end of it and the landing frame is the little frame that it seems to sit on,” he said, adding this confirmed it was the missing submersible before authorities made the announcement.
The submersible, Titan, lost contact less than two hours into its dive and sparked a multinational search and rescue effort.
Former Royal Navy submariner David Russell also told Sky News the debris found indicated the lives of those on-board would have been lost “instantaneously”.
The 6.5-metre vanished off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, on Sunday, local time.
It lost contact with its mothership less than two hours into its dive to the Titanic wreck.
OceanGate Expeditions charges passengers on the Titan $US250,000 (almost $370,000) per person.