The first image of the Titan submersible sitting at the bottom of the ocean following its catastrophic implosion last year was shared by the US Coast Guard on Monday as investigators opened a hearing into the tragedy.
All five people on board the vessel were killed last June in its final ill-fated dive to the Titanic shipwreck, after a desperate search mission that gripped the world.
In the photo released Monday, the submersible’s broken tail cone is seen on the hazy blue floor of the North Atlantic Ocean. The tail cone was severed from the rest of the vessel, its edges ragged, while a ripped fragment of the vessel is seen nearby.
The wreckage was found several hundred yards from the location of the Titanic after days of searching, according to investigators at the hearing in North Charleston, South Carolina, which is expected to run until September 27.
In its opening presentation, the Marine Board of Investigation said the tail cone and other debris were located by a remotely operated vehicle on June 22 last year, providing “conclusive evidence” the submersible experienced a catastrophic implosion – a sudden inward collapse caused by immense pressure.
It claimed the lives of Stockton Rush, the founder and CEO of the vessel’s operator; businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood; adventurer Hamish Harding; and French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
Remains found were matched to the five men on board through DNA testing and analysis, the Marine Board of Investigation confirmed Monday.
The board on Monday called its first witnesses, including former employees of OceanGate, the firm that developed and operated the submersible. The presentation also revealed the submersible’s final message – just six seconds before it lost contact with the surface.
“Dropped two wts,” the Titan’s text to its mother ship read, referring to weights the submersible could shed in hopes of returning to the surface. Seconds later, the Titan was “pinged” for the last time, and the mother ship lost track of the vessel.
An international search and rescue mission unfolded in the following days, in remote waters several hundred miles southeast of Newfoundland, Canada.
The hearing will include “pre-accident historical events, regulatory compliance, crew member duties and qualifications, mechanical and structural systems, emergency response and the submersible industry,” the Coast Guard has previously said.
While the hearing’s main aim is to “uncover the facts surrounding the incident,” board chair Jason Neubauer acknowledged Monday that the group is also tasked with identifying “misconduct or negligence by credential mariners.”
“And if there’s any detection of a criminal act, we would make a recommendation to the Department of Justice,” he said.
