Family Members Mourn Death Of 5 In Titan Submarine Due To Catastrophic Implosion

The US Coast Guard confirmed findings of debris belonging to the missing Titan submarine on the seafloor, believed to have imploded underwater right after they lost contact with the vessel.

(Credit: OceanGate Expeditions, Hamish Harding / Facebook)

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After days of searching for the missing submersible that disappeared while exploring the Titanic wreck on Sunday, officials revealed that all five passengers onboard were confirmed dead after they found debris on the ocean floor, believed to be caused by a catastrophic implosion.

Previously, the submarine went on an exploration mission to the depths of the 1912 Titanic ship wreckage in the North Atlantic Ocean on Sunday (18 June) morning and lost contact with the surface vessel 1 hour and 45 minutes after. They were theoretically on a 4-day oxygen deadline and were supposed to run out of air on Thursday (22 June) morning.

(Credit: OceanGate Expeditions / Twitter)

However, on Thursday evening, the U.S. Coast Guard said that they found a tail cone for the missing sub on the seafloor, approximately 1,600ft from the bow of the Titanic wreckage.

This was declared by Rear Admiral John Mauger, who was entrusted with leading the search for the submarine. He said further debris was found nearby, confirmed by statements from the US Coast Guard.

“In consultation with experts from within unified command, the debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber,” Mauger declared.

The debris is evidence that the submarine likely suffered a catastrophic implosion during its descent to the Tinatic on Sunday. The Us navy detected an ‘anomaly’ that was believed to be the Titan’s explosion after they reviewed back the acoustic data right after the submersible went missing.

Family members gave their statements

Dawood family

The aunt of the 19-year-old victim Suleman Dawood, Azmeh Dawood revealed that he confided to a relative about his doubts going down the wreckage site. He “wasn’t very up to it” and felt “terrified” about the journey.

I am thinking of Suleman, who is 19, in there, just perhaps gasping for breath … It’s been crippling, to be honest.
Azmeh Dawood, Dawood family member

(Credit: Dawood Hercules Corporation / AFP)

She was also the older brother of Suleman’s father, Pakistani billionaire businessman Shahzada Dawood, and told reporters how difficult it was for her to think about their unfortunate fate.

Shahzada was my baby brother … I held him up when he was born.
Azmeh Dawood, Dawood family member

Reminiscing their early days together, she added that her brother truly loved Titanic since he was a kid and would enjoy visiting museum exhibitions on the wreck.

Harding family

The family and aviation company owned by 58-year-old Hamish Harding has released their statement regarding the billionaire’s death.

“Hamish Harding was a loving husband to his wife and a dedicated father to his two sons, whom he loved deeply. To his team in Action Aviation, he was a guide, an inspiration, support, and a Living Legend,” the statement said.

What he achieved in his lifetime was truly remarkable and if we can take any small consolation from this tragedy, it’s that we lost him doing what he loved.
Harding’s family & aviation company

Nargeolet Family

The stepson of famed French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, John Nathanial Paschall said that his family had been living a nightmare all week and never wished for anyone to go through that again.

He said that Nargeolet had a big heart, a great sense of humour and loved pranks, he was a really great stepfather to him. He also said that the ocean was almost like his “home away from home”.

It was so cool. He talked about it so much, I almost became numb to it, in a way because of how much he talked about it. Oh, another expedition you get to go on. That’s so cool. But he was just such an inspiration in terms of the amount of work he put in and his fearlessness with everything.
John Nathanial Paschall, stepson of Nargeolet

Rush

Before his deadly expedition, Stockton Rush, the 61-year-old CEO of OceanGate spoke of his love for the ocean.

Previously before his deep love of the ocean, he fell in love with space first and wanted to be an astronaut.

“I wanted to be the first man on Mars,” he told Fast Company magazine in 2017.

But after becoming a pilot and dove into the world of aerospace engineering, he found his true calling in the underwater world.

I realized that what I really wanted to do was explore. I wanted to be sort of Captain Kirk.

I didn’t want to be the passenger in the back. And I realized that the ocean is the universe. That’s where life is, the final frontier.
Late Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate & pilot of Titan

Recently too, the public found out about an eerie coincidence that relates to the demise of the submarine with the 111-year-old shipwreck. Wendy Rush, the wife of the late Rush was actually a descendant of the great-great-granddaughter of a couple who died on the Titanic, Ida and Isidor Strauss.

Declaring the death of the explorers, OceanGate, the company that operated the submarine also released a statement, yesterday evening.

“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,” an OceanGate statement declared.