By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) - The missing tourist submersible that was bound for the Titanic wreckage site suffered a "catastrophic implosion" in the ocean's depths, the US Coast Guard said Thursday following a four-day search.
A remotely operated submersible vehicle found the Titan submersible's tail cone on the seafloor roughly 1,600 feet (488 meters) from the bow of the Titanic, Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger told reporters in Boston, Massachusetts.
Additional debris that was discovered near the site was "consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber," he said.
"Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families on behalf of the United States Coast Guard and the entire unified command. I offer my deepest condolences to the families," said Mauger.
On board the Titan submersible were British billionaire Hamish Harding, who owned Action Aviation, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Soleiman Dawood, French submarine pilot Paul Henry Nargeolet, and Stockton Rush, the founder and CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, which owned the vessel and organized the mission.