The crew of the Titan vessel owned and operated by Ocean Gate has been confirmed to be deceased. The focus has shifted from a rescue mission to recovery.
The crew to explore the Titanic wreckage departed the support ship Polar Prince after 6am EST on Sunday. After 1 3/4 hours all communication ceased from the Titan vessel. This event lead to the alert of the missing crew to the Coast Guard therefore initiating the rescue mission.
The response coordinated 4 countries, the USA, Canada, England and France sending the best air and ocean reconnaissance available to search an area twice the size of state of Connecticut and at a maximum depth of 3.8km. However after 5 days of intense scanning and searching, today a debris field and the remains of the Titan aft section and bell housing was confirmed approximately 300 meters from the Titanic.
The 5 person crew consisted of OceanGate Expeditions founder and CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman.
Many experts in the fields of engineering and extreme adventure tourism explain that venturing in outer space is less challenging than ocean exploration due to the extreme pressure causing the implosion of the Titan. Also since Ocean Gate operates in international waters, no regulations or safety standards apply. Meaning that the company is under its own governance to ensure passenger safety.
We hope in this tragedy that better safety standards and accountability will lead to more reliable success for extreme adventures.