Final image of submarine before it imploded on dive to Titanic wreck

This has become the last known picture of the missing submersible still intact before it imploded with five people on-board.

A photo of OceanGate’s submersible, Titan, before its descent to the Titanic wreck on Sunday has become the last known image of the craft still intact.

Dirty Dozen Productions captured the picture of the sub on a platform before it went underwater.

While there was hope the vessel in the picture would be seen again, it has now been confirmed it won’t be after debris was found on the sea floor.

The bodies of five men on-board the submersible when it imploded may never be found.

The confirmation on Friday morning that the missing sub imploded came from analysis of debris found on the sea floor during an extensive multinational search and rescue effort.

This shows the 4am start (local time) of the RMS Titanic Expedition Mission 5 on Sunday before it imploded. Picture: Dirty Dozen Productions / AFP

Rear Admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard, who announced the news during a press conference, could not say whether remains of the crew would be retrieved.

Mauger said: “This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor and the debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel.

“And so we’ll continue to work and continue to search the area down there, but I don’t have an answer for prospects [of recovering bodies] at this time.”

Stockton Rush, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, and Hamish Harding lost their lives on the missing sub, Titan.

However, Mauger did confirm unmanned deep-sea robots would continue to search the area and gather information.

It is hoped more clues will be found to help work out why the sub imploded.

“We’ll collect as much information as we can,” he said.

Mauger said that he hoped the discovery of the debris on Friday indicating what happened might provide “some solace during this difficult time” to families.

Rear Adm. John Mauger could not say the prospects of retrieving the crew’s remains. Picture: Scott Eisen/Getty Images/AFP

The debris, found on the sea floor 500 metres from the bow of the Titanic, was consistent with the implosion of the sub’s pressure chamber, Mauger confirmed.

On board were British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, French expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani-British tycoon Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, and Stockton Rush, CEO of the sub’s operator OceanGate Expeditions.

OceanGate’s submersible that imploded.

David Mearns, who specialises in deep water search and recovery operations and is a friend of two men on Titan, said the “only saving grace” about the outcome was that it would have been immediate.

The 6.5-metre craft vanished off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, on Sunday, local time.

It lost contact with its mothership less than two hours into its dive to the Titanic wreck.

OceanGate Expeditions charges passengers on the Titan $US250,000 (almost $370,000) per person.