WASHINGTON, June 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US Navy detected the likely implosion of the Titan submersible on underwater sound monitoring devices shortly after it disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean during a trip to the wreck of the Titanic, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Citing an unnamed senior US Navy official, the Journal said the implosion was recorded shortly after the Titan went missing on Sunday by a secret acoustic monitoring system designed to detect submarines.
“The US Navy conducted an analysis of acoustic data and detected an anomaly consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general vicinity of where the Titan submersible was operating when communications were lost,” the official told the Journal.
The submersible disappeared Sunday during a mission to survey the wreckage of the Titanic, which is 900 nautical miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
On Thursday, the US Coast Guard said it had found wreckage of the submersible near the remains of the Titanic, which sits 3,800m under the sea.
The announcement ended a four-day multinational search-and-rescue operation, with officials telling reporters that analysis showed debris found on the seafloor was consistent with the implosion of the sub’s pressure chamber.
The craft’s five passengers are presumed dead, according to OceanGate Expeditions, which operated the submersible.
Those on board have been identified as Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, the company behind the mission; British billionaire Hamish Harding, the owner of Action Aviation; French dive expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet; and prominent Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman.
“I offer my deepest condolences to the families,” said Rear Admiral John Mauger at a press briefing outside the U.S. Coast Guard station in Boston.
“We’re going to continue to investigate the site of the debris field and then there will be a lot of questions about how, why and when did this happen,” said Mauger. — NNN-AGENCIES