NOW THE HUNT FOR ANSWERS

Launch crew quizzed as rescuers return

- CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN

A PALL of sorrow hung over the Canadian coastal town of St John's yesterday as returning rescue ships bore the weight of the loss of five men in the Titan sub disaster.

Chief among the four vessels was the MV Polar Prince, the mothership that had towed the doomed submersible out into the Atlantic Ocean before it suffered its "catastrophic implosion".

As soon as the boat was secured at the dockside, it was boarded by Canadian and US federal investigators whose job is now to determine what went wrong.

A Coastguard source told us: "None of the crew was allowed to disembark until all had been interviewed by investigators.

"Both US and Canadian governments are taking the death of the five men extremely seriously and want to know every detail."