Friend of two of the men missing on board the Titanic submersible have confirmed the debris found was "a landing frame and a rear cover from the Titan'.
Moments after the US Coast Guard on Thursday announced that a debris field has been discovered within the missing Titanic submersible search area by an ROV near the wreckage, friend of two of the men missing on board the OceanGate vessel confirms the debris found was "a landing frame and a rear cover from the Titan."
David Mearns, a friend of the passengers aboard the Titan told that the president of the Explorers Club (which is connected to the diving and rescue community), says the debris includes "a landing frame and a rear cover from the submersible". An official confirmation from the US Coast Guard is awaited.
BREAKING: Friend of two of the men missing on board the submersible confirms the debris found was "a landing frame and a rear cover from the submersible", after receiving WhatsApp message live on Sky News.
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An ROV from the Horizon Arctic, a Canadian commercial ship that docked last night close to the Titanic catastrophe site, discovered the debris patch.It had a tonne of support gear on board and a ROV with a 6,000-meter deep limit named Odysseus 6k.Additionally, it can be used to retrieve objects from the ocean's floor.
"A debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic. Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information," wrote the US Coast Guard on Twitter earlier today, giving an update on the missing OceanGate vessel Titan with five people onboard.
A debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic. Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information. 1/2
— USCGNortheast (@USCGNortheast)Meanwhile, in an interview with the BBC, Sohnlein stated that he would not be surprised if there was something on the surface. "I know that our protocol for lost comms is for the pilot to surface the sub. From the beginning I always thought that’s probably what Stockton would have done. In which case it becomes very difficult to find the sub because the surface ship wouldn’t have known it was coming up and wouldn’t have known where to look," the OceanGate co-founder told BBC.
Sohnlein said there was a possibility there had been a catastrophe. He added, "My biggest fear through this whole thing watching the operations unfold is that they’re floating around on the surface and they’re just very difficult to find. What I do know is regardless of the sub, when you’re operating at depth the pressure is so great on any sub that if there is a failure it would be an instantaneous implosion. If that’s what happened that’s what would have happened four days ago."
Sohnlein, who left OceanGate 10 years ago, said he would not have acted differently in the circumstances. "If anything, I think we need to go back and learn from what’s happening, find out what’s happened, take those lessons and carry them forward," he noted.
OceanGates' Titan vessel, which was travelling to the Titanic wreckage off the coast of Canada, lost contact with tour operators on Sunday while it was about 435 miles south of St. John's, Newfoundland. On Sunday afternoon, the most well-known shipwreck in the world was just above the final "ping" of its homing device. 96-hour oxygen support in the Titan vessel is said to have ran out today afternoon.
British billionaire Hamish Harding, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, French naval veteran PH Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, and his son Suleman, who is only 19 years old, are among the 'Titan Five' who are still on board. The only man on board with the knowledge and experience to either help rescuers discover them or liberate the Titanic if it is stuck on the seabed is Nargeolet, who has visited the Titanic 35 times, more than any other individual.