Debris from the famed Titan submersible arrived Wednesday on the Horizon Arctic at the Canadian Coast Guard pier in St. John's, Newfoundland. The scene was somber as the salvaged pieces brought the worst fears to light, with "presumed human remains" among the wreckage.
The US Coast Guard announced debris was discovered June 22, after the submersible went missing during a mission to the RMS Titanic site on June 18. The five men onboard, OceanGate CEO and founder Stockton Rush, 61, Hamish Harding, 58, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son, Suleman Dawood, 19, all died when the vessel imploded. The Coast Guard plans to use the debris to determine what went wrong.
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The Marine Board of Investigation will transport the remains to the United States.
Several agencies determined it was best for the board to take the human remains to the United States for further testing, according to a news release from the US Coast Guard. Medical professionals will test the remains to identify them correctly. The release noted the remains were carefully recovered.
"I am grateful for the coordinated international and interagency support to recover and preserve this vital evidence at extreme offshore distances and depths," MBI Chairman Capt. Jason Neubauer stated in the release. "The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of this tragedy. There is still a substantial amount of work to be done to understand the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the TITAN and help ensure a similar tragedy does not occur again."
It could take months to figure out what happened to the 'Titan.'
ABC News reported that the wreckage is consistent with a "catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber," according to Rear Adm. John Mauger, commander of the First Coast Guard District. What caused that failure, however, is still a mystery.
Former National Transportation Safety Board investigator Tom Haueter told the news outlet there that he had never seen anything like this. "This is the first fatality on a passenger carriage submarine I can think of and certainly the first one going into Titanic at this depth," he explained.
He said it would take time to determine how and where the vessel failed.
"Was it a hatch failure or is it the bolts on the hatch? Was it part of the composite shell?" Haueter said. "And taking a look at all these different pieces to see, is there fatigue crack?"
Haueter described it as a learning opportunity.
Although it ended in the devastating loss of five lives, the Titan tragedy will serve as a teaching moment for those wanting to do extreme exploring.
"I think there are things they'll be able to learn to say, OK, if we're going to do this again and allow people to descend to these incredible depths and amazingly high pressures, that here's things that should be considered when developing these types of vehicles," Haueter said, per ABC News.
The submersible's disappearance captivated the world.
People were glued to their devices for five days, hoping the submersible would reappear. But many warned that things didn't look good. People who went on previous missions on the Titan shared their experiences and fears about what could have gone wrong.
Video of Rush showing off a video game controller and the device moving the Titan circulated, and many people laughed that such rudimentary technology could be in control of something seemingly so complex. Rush was widely criticized in the court of public opinion.
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This US Coast Guard wants to improve the safety of submersibles.
The mission to the RMS Titanic wreckage reportedly cost $250,000 per person and ended in a horrible tragedy. Those aboard the submersible reportedly were told of the risks and signed waivers indicating they understood they could die inside the Titan.
According to the Associated Press, the investigation will be thorough and hopes to shed light on how to prevent further tragedies.
As Coast Guard Chief Investigator Captain Jason Neubauer said, "My primary goal is to prevent a similar occurrence by making the necessary recommendations to advance the safety of the maritime domain worldwide."
