The wreckage of the Titan submersible was found in the North Atlantic, five people on board were declared dead

The tourist submersible Titan, carrying five people on a trip to the site of the Titanic, was destroyed by a “catastrophic implosion” which killed everyone aboard. This was announced by the US Coast Guard, having completed a five-day search for the vessel, writes Reuters.

According to Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger, a robotic diving device launched from a Canadian ship discovered the submarine’s wreckage field. It was found on the seabed at a distance of about 488 m from the bow of the Titanic, at a depth of 4 km, in a remote part of the North Atlantic.

The Titan, operated by the U.S.-based company OceanGate Expeditions, had been missing since it lost contact with its surface support ship an hour, 45 minutes into what should have been a two-hour dive to the Titanic.

At the same time, OceanGate said that all five people on board had died.

“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” the company said. “Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time.”

Search teams and support personnel from the US, Canada, France and the UK spent days scanning thousands of square miles of high seas using planes and ships for any sign of the Titan.

On board the vessel were the founder and executive director of OceanGate Stockton Rush, British billionaire and researcher Hamish Harding, businessman of Pakistani origin Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, French oceanographer and famous expert on the Titanic, Paul-Henri Nargeolet.