Footage shared by the US Coast Guard shows a robot arm salvaging the wreck of the Titan sub which claimed the lives of five people.
OceanGate's expedition to the wreck of the Titanic ended in tragedy when the the vessel lost contact just an hour and 45 minutes into the two-hour descent, 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland on 18 June, 2023.
The wreckage was found days later and the passengers were named as OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, 61, British billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son Suleman.
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Below shows the eerie moment a robot salvages the wreckage:
The clip shows what's left of the Titan sub, sitting at the bottom of the seabed, as a robot arm latches onto yellow ropes attached to the wreckage.
Incredibly, the OceanGate sub was still largely intact.
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Once the wreckage was recovered, it was transported to a secure facility for detailed analysis.
Now, the remotely operated vehicle captured the video on 26 June 2023, but it was only just shown in a hearing on 23 September 2024.
The two-week hearing - which began on 16 September - is investigating what led to the implosion on behalf of the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation.
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A total of 24 witnesses will come forward, including former executives of OceanGate, as well as technical experts.
This comes after OceanGate's co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein told a US Coast Guard panel that he hoped the tragedy yields renewed interest in sea exploration.
"This can’t be the end of deep ocean exploration. This can’t be the end of deep-diving submersibles and I don’t believe that it will be," Sohnlein, who left the company in 2013, said.
"We wanted to give humanity greater access to the ocean, specifically the deep ocean."
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Ahead of the hearing, the chairman of the Titan Marine Board of Investigation, Jason Neubauer, said: "Over the past 15 months, our team has worked continuously, in close co-ordination with multiple federal agencies, international partners and industry experts to uncover the facts surrounding this incident.
"These proceedings are not just a formality. They are a critical step in our mission to understand the contributing factors that led to the incident and, more importantly, the actions needed to prevent a similar occurrence.
"We are charged to also detect misconduct or negligence by credentialed mariners, and if there’s any detection of a criminal act, we can make a recommendation to the Department of Justice."
A timeline of the Titan submersible disaster:
The Titan loses contact with support vessel
The Polar Prince loses contact with the Titan around one hour and 45 minutes into its descent on 18 June. A few hours after the submersible was supposed to resurface, the US Coast Guard received a report of an overdue submersible.
Search operation is launched
The US Coast Guard launch a large-scale operation on 19 June, 2023, when the vessel fails to resurface or make contact almost 24 hours on.
'Banging noises' are detected
Two days on from the Titan's disappearance on 21 June, 2023, sonar crews taking part in the search pick up 'banging noises', giving false hope that the passengers are still alive.
The Titan's oxygen supply 'runs out'
At 1pm E.T on 22 June, 2023, the submersible's 96-hour oxygen supply is predicted to have ran out, cementing fears for the crew onboard.
A 'debris field' is discovered, leading to the realisation of a 'catastrophic implosion'
The US Coast Guard confirms the Titan was destroyed by a ‘catastrophic implosion’ - a result of both enormous water pressure and failed materials - with the loss of all five people aboard.
Topics: Titan Submersible, Titanic
Anish Vij