Pieces of shattered Titanic submersible brought ashore in Canada

Published June 28, 2023
A view of the Horizon Arctic ship, as salvaged pieces of the Titan submersible from OceanGate Expeditions are returned in St John’s harbour, Newfoundland, Canada on June 28, 2023. — Reuters
A view of the Horizon Arctic ship, as salvaged pieces of the Titan submersible from OceanGate Expeditions are returned in St John’s harbour, Newfoundland, Canada on June 28, 2023. — Reuters

A Canadian-flagged ship on Wednesday brought ashore debris from the Titan submersible that imploded while on a voyage to the century-old wreck of the Titanic earlier this month, killing all five people, including two Pakistanis, on board.

Video from the Canadian Broadcast Corporation showed what appeared to be the nose of the submersible and other shattered fragments wrapped in a white tarp pulled up by a crane off the Horizon Arctic vessel at the St John’s harbour in Newfoundland on Wednesday morning.

The debris is expected to shed more light on the cause of the catastrophic implosion that killed everyone on board — OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush; British billionaire Hamish Harding; Pakistani-born businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman; and French oceanographer Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

It was not immediately clear where the debris was headed.

In the past week, Canadian and US authorities have announced investigations into the incident, which has raised questions about the unregulated nature of such expeditions.

The deep-sea submersible operated by OceanGate Expeditions was discovered in pieces on the seabed some 488 metres from the bow of the Titanic by a robotic diving vehicle last week, ending a multinational five-day search for survivors.

“Our team has successfully completed off-shore operations, but is still on mission and will be in the process of demobilisation from the Horizon Arctic this morning,” Pelagic Research, which operates the robotic vehicle, said in a statement. It declined to comment further, citing confidentiality reasons.

Footage also showed a shattered part of the hull and machinery with dangling wires being taken off the ship at St John’s, where the expedition to the Titanic had set off from.

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