By Regine Tan
On the 18th June 2023, five people were aboard what is known as the ‘Titan submersible’ for a trip to the Titanic shipwreck within the far depths of the ocean. A submersible is a support that is dropped into the waters unlike a submarine which can completely function by itself. Less than two hours into this journey, the submersible completely lost communication with the surface and an investigation was opened as to what exactly happened.
In charge of the Titan submersible was the man whose company owned it and also offered the trip, Paul-Henri Nargeolet. He had completed 37 successful dives in a submersible to the Titanic shipwreck over the course of his career. Along with him were four others. Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, Suleman Dawood and Stockton Rush.
After the loss of communication, Canada, France and the US sent various aircrafts including ships, planes and underwater vessels to search for this missing submersible. Later, it was revealed by the US navy that the submersible’s capsule had imploded due to the increase in pressure which caused the vessel to explode as it approached the Titanic shipwreck. Furthermore, the US Coast Guard also announced that there were broken parts of the submersible scattered all over the sea bed near the Titanic shipwreck. It was later then reported that all five people on the submersible had died very quickly after the vessel had lost contact with the surface.
The CNN quotes that there were ‘presumed human remains’ also found amongst the exploded remains of the vessel on the sea bed. The presumed had remained, which the military branch had said will be further analysed by US medical professionals.
This tragic incident is still under continuous investigations and the exact details of this tragedy still remains unknown.