Titan imploded near the site where the British passenger liner sank in 1912

All five members onboard the ill-fated vessel have been declared dead in the ‘catastrophic implosion’, ending the multinational five-day search.

The submersible, Titan, which set out on an expedition to the Titanic shipwreck site, almost 13,000 feet below sea level, has imploded near the site where the British passenger liner sank in 1912. All five members onboard the ill-fated vessel have been declared dead in the ‘catastrophic implosion’, ending the multinational five-day search.

Founder and CEO of US-based firm OceanGate Expeditions, Stockton Rush,  British billionaire Hamish Harding, renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman were all aboard the Titan.

The submersible, owned by US-based firm OceanGate, lost its contact with the support ship on the surface on Sunday after an hour and 45 minutes into what should have been a two-hour dive to the world’s most famous shipwreck.

It has emerged the US Navy originally detected an acoustic anomaly consistent with an implosion shortly after the Titan lost contact. A robotic diving vehicle found major fragments of the sub on the seafloor about 1,600ft (480m) from the Titanic shipwreck. According to the US Coast Guard, five major fragments of the 22-foot vessel, including the vessel’s tail cone and two sections of the pressure hull, were located in the debris.

Hollywood filmmaker James Cameron, The director of the 1997 Oscar-winning film Titanic, who has completed 33 dives to the wreck, said he suspected a disaster after the sub went missing. Experts have raised questions on the safety of the Titan submersible and how private sector deep-sea expeditions are regulated.