Titan sub 'implosion' killed all five crew

All five men onboard Titanic submersible 'died instantly after catastrophic failure'

- Richard Luscombe

Five crew members onboard the submersible Titan were probably killed instantly by a "catastrophic implosion" as it descended to the wreck of the Titanic two miles below the surface of the Atlantic, US Coast Guard officials announced yesterday.

A large debris field containing sections of the vessel had been spotted on the seabed earlier in the day by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) scouring the area near the Titanic wreck site 400 miles south of St John's, Newfoundland, officials said at an afternoon press conference in Boston. "The debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber," Rear Admiral John Mauger told reporters.

"We immediately notified the families on behalf of the US Coast Guard and the entire unified command. I offer my deepest condolences to the families. I can only imagine what this has been like for them."

The announcement marked a heartbreaking end to a massive international air and sea search for the sub and its crew. The 6.7-metre (22ft) vessel went missing on Sunday, one hour and 45 minutes into its scheduled 11-hour dive.

Mauger said it was too early to tell exactly when the implosion occurred, but noted that nothing was detected on sonar buoys deployed in the ocean in recent days. "I know there's a lot of questions about why, how, when this happened," he said. "This is an incredibly difficult and dangerous environment to work in out there, but those questions... are going to be the focus of future review."