All 5 people onboard missing Titanic submersible have sadly been lost, confirms OceanGate

Hours after the US Coast Guard announced that a debris field of the missing Titanic submersible was found on Thursday, OceanGate, the company that runs the Titan vessel, released an official statement stating all five passengers onboard the sub have 'sadly been lost'.

"We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost," said in an official statement released.

Also read: 'Landing frame and a rear cover from missing Titanic submersible among the debris'

"These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans. Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew," OceanGate added.

"This is an extremely sad time for our dedicated employees who are exhausted and grieving deeply over this loss. The entire OceanGate family is deeply grateful for the countless men and women from multiple organizations of the international community who expedited wide-ranging resources and have worked so very hard on this mission," the statement added.

"We appreciate their commitment to finding these five explorers, and their days and nights of tireless work in support of our crew and their families. This is a very sad time for the entire explorer community, and for each of the family members of those lost at sea. We respectfully ask that the privacy of these families be respected during this most painful time," the statement concluded.

Earlier today, a friend of two of the men missing on board the OceanGate vessel stated the debris found was "a landing frame and a rear cover from the Titan."

"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.

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.

Also read: Missing Titanic submersible: OceanGate co-founder fears possibility of 'instantaneous implosion'

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.

'Instantaneous implosion' a possibility

OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein earlier stated that there may have been an 'instantaneous implosion'. 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 moments after debris field was found by the US Coast Guard.

Also read: Missing Titanic submersible: From sinking in 1912 to exploring wreckage - voyage through time (PHOTOS)

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.

'If sub imploded death would have been instantaneous'

The passengers on board the missing Titan sub would have died instantly and wouldn't even have known there was a problem if the vessel had imploded, a former US Navy physician told the BBC.

Also read: Missing Titanic submersible: Chilling video of OceanGate vessel starting doomed voyage goes viral (WATCH)

Dale Mole, former US Navy physician, said the claim was "indicative of an implosion" and added, "Death would have been instantaneous."

Although this conclusion would be awful, Mole claimed that the Titan crew's alternative of being trapped within the ship would have been much worse.

"You can just imagine what it would have been like... it's cold, your oxygen is running out. If we can't have them back, this is the best possible scenario," he concluded.