Human remains found in Titan sub wreckage

The US Coast Guard says “presumed human remains” have been discovered in the doomed OceanGate tourist submersible.

Human remains have been found in the wreckage of the Titan submersible, the US Coast Guard has said.

Several parts of the doomed vessel were lifted ashore on Thursday, including the sub’s nose and a large panel which appeared to be from its tail end.

Amid those recovered pieces, US Coast Guard officials discovered human remains, which will now be transported to a port in the US where they will undergo testing and analysis.

Titan wreckage on board the Horizon Arctic. Picture: Supplied

Wreckage appeared to include the white hull and landing frame. Picture: Supplied

The wreckage from the tourist submersible has revealed how a “catastrophic implosion” ripped apart the experimental carbon fibre vessel within milliseconds.

British billionaire Hamish Harding, French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush and father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood were killed in the disaster.

Hamish Harding, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Stockton Rush, and Suleman and Shahzada Dawood died in the tragedy.

About 10 pieces were estimated to have been unloaded from the Horizon Arctic when it arrived in Newfoundland, Canada, six days after its debris field was discovered about 500 meters from the bow of the Titanic.

A porthole and what appeared to be the vessel’s landing frame were lifted off the ship by cranes and driven away for further investigation. The recovery of the wreckage follows the seizure of audio tapes and data recordings from the bridge of its mothership the Polar Prince.

Together, the wreck and communications logs will form key pieces of evidence in the investigation of the tragedy.

A Canadian-flagged ship had brought back debris from the Titan submersible that imploded while on a voyage to the century-old wreck of the Titanic earlier this month. pic.twitter.com/KQe7VymZh1

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The wreckage was discovered and recovered by Pelagic Research Service’s (PRS) Odysseus 6K deep sea drone under the direction of Canada’s Transportation Safety Board, whose investigation would take up to two years to determine the cause of the disaster.

PRS said in a statement it has completed offshore operations but that its recovery team was “still on mission”.

The Titan before a ‘catastrophic implosion’ ripped apart in milliseconds. Picture: AFP

“They have been working around the clock now for ten days, through the physical and mental challenges of this operation, and are anxious to finish the mission and return to their loved ones,” the statement to AP said.

Transportation Safety Board chair Kathy Fox added that investigators interviewed the ship’s crew to “collect information from the vessel’s voyage data recorder and other vessel systems that contain useful information”.

The voyage data recorder stores the audio from the ship’s bridge, which could include discussions of the final text communications received from the Titan before it lost contact one hour and 45 minutes into its voyage.

Transportation Safety Board officials seized audio tapes and data recordings from the Polar Prince. Picture: Getty Images

“The content of those voice recordings could be useful in our investigation,” Fox said.

The Polar Prince was required to communicate with the Titan, made possible via text messages, every 15 minutes, according to the archived website of OceanGate Expeditions

While Ms Fox told the outlet the Canadian TSB’s mission was to “find out what happened” and not to assign blame, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is investigating whether “criminal, federal, or provincial laws may possibly have been broken.”

US Coast Guard Captain Jason Neubauer, who is chairing the American probe, said the “priority” of the investigation was to salvage the debris, but that they were “taking all precautions” in case they find bodies on the sea floor.

Originally published as Human remains found in Titan sub wreckage