Presumed human remains recovered from Titan debris as new details emerge – live

Edward Cassano, Pelagic Research Services CEO, held back tears as he described the moment the Titan submersible search and rescue turned “into a recovery.”

Just hours after arriving, Pelagic Research Services found debris from the imploded sub and relayed the information to the victim’s families.

Mr Cassano was speaking to press at the conclusion of the search, when he said: “We have to apologise – there are a lot of emotions, and people are tired.”

Pelagic Research Services’s remotely-operated vehicle (ROV), Odysseus, was flown-in to the site of the Titanic wreckage to assist in the international search for any sign of the five passengers or the Titan.

Odysseus is one of the few ROVs that can reach the depths where the Titanic wreckage sits at 12,500 feet (3,700 metres). Until Odysseus was able to reach the ocean floor, the US Coast Guard and US Navy were unable to determine where the sub went or if it had surely imploded.

Lew Palter, the actor best known for his role as Isidor Straus in James Cameron’s 1997 epic Titanic, died aged 94 on 21 May.

Palter died on 21 May of lung cancer at his home in Los Angeles, his daughter, Catherine Palter, told The Hollywood Reporter.

A Mexican actor who last year undertook an undersea voyage on the same Titanic-bound Titan submersible that has gone missing said he was lost in the depths of the sea for two hours.

Alan Estrada said the battery of OceanGate’s Titan submersible drained mid-voyage, forcing the vessel to return to save the lives of its passengers.

The Youtuber said he secured a $125,000 excursion to see the world’s biggest shipwreck last July, after getting delayed by a year for unspecified reasons. The price, which was paid for by a sponsor for the trip, had doubled by then to $250,000.

“My biggest concern was obviously losing my life,” Mr Estrada said. “All the people who made this expedition … we are aware of the risks we are taking. It’s not a surprise.”

A spokesperson for the mothership which launched the missing submersible defended OceanGate, saying it runs an “extremely safe operation” after questions were raised about safety. The submersible Titan is run by OceanGate.

Sean Leet, co-founder and chairman of Horizon Maritime Services, which owns the Polar Prince mothership from which Titan was launched, said: “OceanGate runs an extremely safe operation.”

The vessel weighs 10,432kg in total and can travel at a maximum speed of three knots, made possible by Four Innerspace 1002 electric thrusters.

The tourists and scientists who typically ride in it are able to look out via a large viewport window, their perspective enhanced by Sub C Imaging 4k Rayfin exterior cameras that capture the surrounding marine environment in a live feed that is displayed on a large digital display.

There is little by way of comfort inside but there is a toilet, although privacy is limited because it is situated right next to the viewing window.

Most astonishingly, the craft is controlled by a generic video games controller – specifically a Logitech F710 Wireless PC Gamepad from 2011, according to gaming expert Matthew Ruddle – and, rather than using a GPS for navigation, it communicates with a tracking team aboard a surface ship, in this case the Polar Prince, via text messages.

Since the Titan submersible imploded, killing five people aboard, the subject of extreme tourism has been highly debated online and by professionals.

But when the CEO of Pelagic Research Services, the company that helped oversee the recovery mission of the submersible, was asked what his thoughts were on the trips OceanGate took to the Titanic he claimed he did not have a strong opinion.

“I don’t necessarily have an opinion on that, it’s a strong investigation going on right now,” Edward Cassano said in a press conference on Friday.

Mr Cassano helped lead the team of people from Pelagic Research Services who used their remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to find the debris from the submersible last week.

During the press conference, he became visibly upset when speaking about the five people who died while on a trip to view the Titanic wreckage and asked people to remain respectful about the tragedy.

But despite being part of the widely-viewed search, rescue and recovery mission, Mr Cassano did not express negative thoughts on extreme tourism.

“Explorers, people who seek to be on the ocean to go to depth, it’s very compelling,” Mr Cassano said. “We certainly share those desires, our whole company is designed to support research and design at depth.”

“It was a passion and a joy for exploration,” he added.

Police in Canada announced on Saturday that they are considering a criminal investigation over the deaths of five men in the Oceangate submersible implosion.

Superintendent Kent Osmond of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in Newfoundland and Labrador said law enforcement were in the early stages of the probe.

“Following the US Coast Guard’s announcement earlier this week that debris from the submersible was located and all five on board were presumed dead, we will now look at the circumstances that led to those deaths,” Mr Osmond said, at a press conference.

“Such an investigation will proceed only if our examination of the circumstances indicate criminal, federal or provincial laws may possibly have been broken.”

OceanGate, the company behind the ill-fated Titanic sub, received more than $450,000 in aid during the Covid pandemic.

The Washington-based company received $447,000 in loans and the government forgave it $450,074, with interest.

The Payment Protection Program loans were made through Washington Trust Bank and approved on 10 April 2020 when the company had 22 employees, according to a ProPublica database.

The Polar Prince icebreaker sailed around 900 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, where it set anchor.

The five-person crew was dropped into the ocean in their 22-foot long submersible vessel, the Titan, around 8am EST the submersible was launched, according to the US Coast Guard

One hour and 45 minutes later, the vessel lost contact with the Polar Prince.

According to the Coast Guard, the sub was meant to surface at 3pm EST.

When it failed to resurface, the crew raised the alarm with authorities at 5.40pm EST.

On Monday morning, authorities revealed the Titan was missing and a large-scale search operation had been launched.

At 1.30pm, the US Coastguard’s Northeast tweeted that a C-130 Hercules reconnaissance aircraft had been dispatched to search for the Titan. P8 Poseidon aircraft with underwater sonar capabilities joined the search on Monday afternoon.

OceanGate confirmed that its chief executive and founder Stockton Rush is “aboard the submersible as a member of the crew”.

A Canadian Aircraft P3 Aurora joined the effort, as the search area expanded to 10,000sqm.

During the press conference on Tuesday, Captain Frederick said there were around 40 to 41 hours of oxygen left on the submersible.

He said that a “unified command” of multiple agencies had been formed to tackle the “very complex problem” of finding the vessel but so far this had “not yielded any results”.

According to internal e-mail updates sent to Department of Homeland Security leadership, the Canadian aircraft detected “banging” noises every 30 minutes.

The US Coast Guard on Wednesday morning said: “Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater noises in the search area. As a result, ROV (remote operating vehicles) operations were relocated in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises.

“Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue.

Captain Jamie Frederick of the US Coast Guard confirmed that the vessel had less than 24 hours of oxygen supply left. He also acknowledged that officials do not know if crews will be able to rescue the people on board even if they do manage to find the sub before the oxygen runs out.

The air supply on the missing Titanic tourist submarine came down to its last hours, as rescue workers continued their increasingly desperate search for the five stranded passengers.

Soon after that deadline passed, officials announced a “debris field” had been found in the search area.

Five crew members were later confirmed to have died after the Titanic tourist submarine suffered a “catastrophic explosion”.