The US Coast Guard says it has likely recovered human remains from the wreckage of the Titan submersible and is bringing the evidence back to the United States. The submersible imploded last week, killing all five people on board. The vessel was on a voyage see the wreck of the Titanic.
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The return of the Titan debris to port in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador on Wednesday is a key piece of the investigation into why the submersible imploded. Twisted chunks of the 22-foot submersible were unloaded at a Canadian Coast Guard pier.
The US Coast Guard said late Wednesday it had recovered debris and evidence from the sea floor and that included what it described as presumed human remains.
“I am grateful for the coordinated international and interagency support to recover and preserve this vital evidence at extreme offshore distances and depths,” US Coast Guard Chief Capt. Jason Neubauer said in a statement. “The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of this tragedy. There is still a substantial amount of work to be done to understand the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the TITAN and help ensure a similar tragedy does not occur again.”
The Canadian ship Horizon Arctic carried a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, to search the ocean floor near the Titanic wreck for pieces of the submersible. Pelagic Research Services, a company with offices in Massachusetts and New York that owns the ROV, said on Wednesday that it has completed offshore operations.
Pelagic Research Services’ team is “still on mission” and cannot comment on the ongoing Titan investigation, which involves several government agencies in the US and Canada, said Jeff Mahoney, a spokesperson for the company.
“They have been working around the clock now for ten days, through the…
