DEEP SORROW

Wreckage discovered at 12,500ft | Submarine blown apart by implosion | Questions over safety of the vessel

- CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN

THE five men on board the missing Titan sub were killed instantly when the vessel imploded.

Debris from the missing sub was found yesterday 12,500ft down on the sea bed near to the wreckage of the Titanic by a remotely operated underwater vehicle.

Rear Admiral John Mauger, of the US Coast Guard, who led the search for Titan after it went missing on Sunday, said: "The debris is consistent with a catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber."

One of the victims was Strathclyde University student Suleman Dawood, 19.

The tragedy happened 111 years after more than 1500 people perished when the Titanic sank on its maiden voyage.

The implosion of the Titan submersible, owned by US firm OceanGate, would have killed the five men on board instantly, a fate described by a friend of two of the tourists as a "saving grace".

News that the debris had been found came as the relatives of the British billionaire on board hit out at the sub's operators over the eight-hour delay in sending out an SOS.

Confirming the submersible had imploded, Rear Admiral Mauger, said the families of the lost men had been immediately notified.

He added: "I can only imagine what this has been like for them, and I hope that this discovery provides some solace during this difficult time."

Pelagic Research Services confirmed it was their ROV Odysseus - transported to the scene on the Horizon Arctic which had found the debris field.

It had discovered the tail cone of the Titan first and then other debris near by.

At 12,500ft, the pressure would be about 375 atmospheres, and the five men would have felt nothing, killed at once as they were subjected to the equivalent of 5500lb of force.

Three of those on board - billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son, Suleman, 19 were British.