Human remains are believed to have been found in the wreckage of the Titan submersible, which suffered a “catastrophic implosion” with five people on board during a descent to the wreck of the Titanic.
Experts recovered “presumed human remains” from the sub, which was recovered and brought to Newfoundland, Canada, on Wednesday, the US Coast Guard said.
Footage showed crews at a harbour in St John's handling large pieces of the wreckage that previously lay on the ocean floor.
“United States medical professionals will conduct a formal analysis of presumed human remains that have been carefully recovered,” the Coast Guard said.
Contact with the Titan was lost soon after the submersible began its descent to the Titanic on June 18. Its disappearance led to a massive search to find the vessel and rescue those on board before their air supply ran out. A remotely operated vehicle detected the wreckage of the submersible near the remains of the Titanic, about 700km south of Newfoundland, on June 22.
The ROV was also carried back to Newfoundland on Wednesday. The owner, US-based Pelagic Research Services, said it had completed offshore operations and that crews were “working around the clock for 10 days”.
One expert who consulted with the US Coast Guard during the search said analysis of the recovered debris could lead to clues about what had happened to the vessel, AP reported.
The submersible, operated by OceanGate, lost contact with its support vessel one hour and 45 minutes into its descent towards the Titanic wreckage site. It was declared missing eight hours after communication had been lost.
Debris from the imploded titian recovered in Newfoundland
The US Navy previously detected a loud bang consistent with an implosion, but determined at the time that such an event was not definitive, and the search for the sub and passengers continued.
The passengers – OceanGate chief executive Stockton Rush, British adventurer Hamish Harding, Pakistani father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, and French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet – were declared dead last week after the vessel's debris was discovered.
The US Coast Guard and other agencies have launched investigations into the fatal incident.
Titan's implosion raised questions about the safety of private deep-sea explorations. James Cameron, director of the film Titanic and a deep-sea explorer himself, criticised the vessel's carbon-fibre hull and said he had warned the company years ago about using such a design.
