The first image of the Titan submersible resting on the ocean floor after its catastrophic collapse last year was released by the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday, coinciding with the start of an investigative hearing.
All five passengers on board the ship died in June, prompting a desperate search operation.
The newly released photo shows the shattered tail cone of the submarine lying on the murky bottom of the North Atlantic. The tail cone had broken away from the rest of the submarine and its edges were torn off. A shattered piece of the vessel is also visible nearby.
Investigators revealed that the wreckage was discovered several hundred yards from the Titanic’s location after days of searching. The hearing, which will be held in North Charleston, South Carolina, will continue until September 27.
During the inaugural presentation, the Marine Board of Inquiry explained that the tail cone and other debris were found by a remotely operated vehicle on June 22 last year. This evidence confirmed that the submersible had suffered a catastrophic implosion, a sudden inward collapse caused by extreme pressure.
The victims of the tragedy were Stockton Rush, founder and chief executive of the ship’s operator; businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood; explorer Hamish Harding; and French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
The Marine Board of Inquiry confirmed that the remains found matched those of the five men on board through testing and DNA analysis.
The board reportedly called its first witnesses on Monday, including former employees of OceanGate, the company that developed and operated the submersible. The presentation also revealed the submersible’s final message, just six seconds before it lost contact with the surface.
“Two weights have been dropped,” read the text message the Titan sent to its mothership, referring to the weights the submersible could drop in hopes of returning to the surface. Seconds later, the Titan received a final “ping” and the mothership lost track of the vessel.
An international search and rescue mission unfolded in remote waters several hundred miles southeast of Newfoundland, Canada, in the days that followed. The hearing will include “historical events leading up to the accident, regulatory compliance, crew member duties and qualifications, mechanical and structural systems, emergency response and the submersible industry,” the Coast Guard previously said.
While the primary goal of the hearing is to “uncover the facts surrounding the incident,” board Chairman Jason Neubauer acknowledged Monday that the group is also tasked with identifying “misconduct or negligence on the part of licensed boaters.”
(Agency contributions)
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