Boston | A vast multinational search for five people who had descended to view the wreckage of the sunken Titanic ended on Thursday (Friday AEST) after pieces of the privately owned submersible vessel that had carried them were found on the ocean floor, evidence of a “catastrophic implosion” with no survivors, according to the US Coast Guard.

The dramatic search effort, in a remote area of the North Atlantic 1400 kilometres off Cape Cod, had mesmerised people worldwide for days after the 6.7-metre watercraft, called Titan, lost contact with its parent ship less than two hours into its voyage on Sunday.