According to OceanGate, the Titan submersible's five passengers are all likely dead.

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According to OceanGate, the Titan submersible's five passengers are all likely dead. image

All five of the Titan submersible's five passengers, who vanished on Sunday while visiting the Titanic wreck from 1912, are thought to be dead, according to a statement released by OceanGate on Thursday.
According to a statement released by OceanGate on Thursday, June 22nd, "We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly passed away."
The statement went on to say that "these men were true explorers who shared a distinctive spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans."
"During this terrible moment, our thoughts and prayers are with these five people and every one of their families. We lament their passing and the loss of the happiness they offered to everybody who knew them."
The Titan submarine was being searched for when a remotely operated vehicle, according to the U.S. Coast Guard, detected a debris field. Later that afternoon, the Coast Guard said at a press conference that the debris was "consistent with catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber."
At the news conference, Rear Adm. John Mauger, the First Coast Guard District commander, stated, "Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families."
I extend my sincere sympathies to the families on behalf of the USCG and the entire unified command. I'm not able to even begin to picture how they must have felt.
The Titan submersible was headed towards the Titanic shipwreck, which is more than 2 miles below the ocean's surface when it lost contact less than two hours into its dive on Sunday, Mauger said. The debris was discovered approximately 1,600 feet from the Titanic's bow. He stated that remote-controlled vehicles would stay in the area to continue collecting data about the debris.


Over the following 24 hours, we will start to demobilize troops and vessels from the area, Mauger stated. But we're going to keep conducting remote operations on the seafloor, and I don't currently have a schedule for when we plan to stop doing so.
Mauger responded that it is an "incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor, and the debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel" when asked whether attempts will be taken to recover the Titan's passengers.
The news was made at the Pentagon's twice-weekly media conference, and press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder described the Coast Guard report as "very sad." When asked if the military vessels sent to assist in the search and rescue effort would now switch to a recovery mission, Ryder addressed inquiries to the Coast Guard.
"The Coast Guard is in the lead on that, so they would make the determination in terms of how to characterize the operation," he said. "As we move forward, our priority will be assisting the Coast Guard in their efforts."

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