First photos show Titanic sub debris brought ashore after craft imploded killing all five aboard
28 June 2023, 15:42 | Updated: 28 June 2023, 23:08
Debris from the doomed Titanic submersible have been brought ashore after it imploded and killed all five passengers aboard.
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The first pictures show workers moving a panel with a complex set of wiring and tubes as it was brought in at a Canadian Coast Guard pier at St John's in Newfoundland.
The Titan sub vanished earlier in June before the debris confirmed it had been destroyed.
The remains were found about 1,600ft from the Titanic.
The submersible was taking five passengers down to see the wreck of the famous passenger liner but it vanished on Sunday, June 22.
The wreck is 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, in the Atlantic, and some 12,000ft below the surface.
An investigation into what happened to the OceanGate Expeditions vessel has been opened, with experts believing it imploded.
British billionaire Hamish Harding was aboard, along with Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French explorer, Shahzada Dawood, a UK-based Pakistani businessman who was a board member of the Prince's Trust charity, his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood, who went to Strathclyde University in Glasgow, and Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate.
Read more: Titanic tourist sub investigators 'taking precautions' in case bodies found on sea floor
A debris field was found close to the Titanic's wreck, which was said at the time to have been a landing frame and a rear cover.
Richard Garriott, president of the Explorers' Club and friend to Mr Harding, said the field debris field implies a "break up of the submersible at depth… a catastrophic failure, an implosion".
On the Thursday after the sub disappeared, Rear Admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard said the five passengers had died.
He said their deaths were likely the result of a "catastrophic implosion" that happened on the Sunday.
Remote operating vehicles had been deployed to look at the debris field.
It is expected that the carbon fibre pieces from the hull will be examined under a microscope to detect any tears and find out where the craft ripped apart.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has launched the investigation. The sub's support ship was flagged to Canada.
"A team of TSB investigators is travelling to St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, to gather information, conduct interviews, and assess the occurrence," it said.
"In the coming days, we will coordinate our activities with other agencies involved."
Questions about the safety and construction of the craft have been raised, especially as information about it being piloted via a games console controller emerged.
A past passenger who was also an expert in subs reported a concerning noise to the CEO, while a businessman in the US revealed a series of messages from Mr Rush repeatedly asking him if he would join an expedition and offering knock-down prices.
