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What we know about the tourist sub that disappeared on an expedition to the Titanic

By Emily Mae Czachor

Updated on: June 23, 2023 / 11:35 PM EDT / CBS News

Five people on board the tourist  submarine that disappeared  on an expedition to explore the  Titanic shipwreck  over the weekend did not survive a "catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber," officials said Thursday.

The announcement came after the U.S. Coast Guard said the  massive search  underway in the North Atlantic had located a debris field on the sea floor, which was confirmed to be pieces of the missing sub .

"The debris field is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel," Rear Adm. John Mauger of the Coast Guard said at a briefing, offering "deepest condolences to the families." A spokesperson for OceanGate Expeditions, the company behind the voyage, told reporters that the passengers, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, "have sadly been lost."

Here's what we know so far about the submersible craft and what led up to this point.

What happened?

A five-person crew on a submersible named Titan, owned by OceanGate Expeditions, submerged on a dive to the Titanic wreckage site Sunday morning, and the crew of the Polar Prince research ship lost contact with the sub about an hour and 45 minutes later, the Coast Guard   said . 

The Coast Guard first alerted mariners about the missing sub Sunday night, saying a "21 foot submarine" with a white hull was overdue and giving its last known position. "VESSELS IN VICINITY REQUESTED TO KEEP A SHARP LOOKOUT, ASSIST IF POSSIBLE," the alert message read.

The sub was lost in an area about 900 miles east of Cape Cod, in the North Atlantic, in water with a depth of about 13,000 feet, which is about level with the depth of the Titanic wreck . Amid growing concern about its  dwindling supply of breathable air , search and rescue efforts by a unified command composed of several international agencies ramped up accordingly.

The five people aboard included an operator — later identified as Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions — and four mission specialists, a term the company uses for its passengers, who paid up to $250,000 for a seat.

For days, the fate of the sub and its passengers was a mystery.

But after the debris was found, a U.S. Navy official said the Navy had detected "an acoustic anomaly consistent with an implosion" shortly after the sub lost contact with the surface Sunday, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reported. The information was relayed to the Coast Guard, which used it to narrow the radius of the search area, the official said.

Such an implosion, under the intense pressure of the depths of the sea , would have destroyed the vessel almost instantly, experts explained.

"in a fraction of a second, it's gone," Will Kohnen, chairman of the professional group the Marine Technology Society Submarine Committee, told the Reuters news agency. 

"It implodes inwards in a matter of a thousandth of a second," Kohnen said. "And it's probably a mercy, because that was probably a kinder end than the unbelievably difficult situation of being four days in a cold, dark and confined space. So, this would have happened very quickly. I don't think anybody even had the time to realize what happened." 

The Coast Guard is leading the investigation into the incident, and the National Transportation Safety Board  said Friday  it will assist.   

Who were the passengers aboard the sub? 

CBS News confirmed that the five people aboard the submersible were  Hamish Harding , a 59-year-old British billionaire, business owner and explorer; British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman; French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, who had made multiple dives over the years to explore the Titanic; and Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, who was serving as pilot.

Just ahead of the Coast Guard briefing Thursday afternoon, a statement issued by OceanGate spokesperson Andrew Von Kerens offered condolences to the families of the Titan crew and recognized that all five people on board the submersible were believed to be dead.

"These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans," the company said in the statement. "Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew."

When the Coast Guard confirmed the sub's likely implosion on Thursday, Mauger said they were communicating with consulates general in both the U.K. and France.

The Dawood family, of the large Pakistan-based global business conglomerate Dawood Group, issued a statement Tuesday confirming their family members were on the expedition.

"Please continue to keep the departed souls and our family in your prayers during this difficult time of mourning," the Hussain and Kulsum Dawood family said Thursday in a statement through the Dawood Foundation. "We are truly grateful to all those involved in the rescue operations. ... The immense love and support we receive continues to help us endure this unimaginable loss."

Nargeolet, a renowned French explorer and former diver for the French Navy who was part of the first expedition to visit the Titanic wreck in 1987, was returning for another dive aboard the Titan submersible. 

In a  Facebook  post on Monday, Rory Golden, an explorer who became the first Irish diver to visit the Titanic wreckage in 2000, said he was part of the voyage but was not on the submersible that went missing.

Search and rescue efforts

Authorities  said  early Thursday morning that a Canadian vessel, Horizon Arctic, had deployed a  remotely operated underwater vehicle that reached the sea floor . The ROV ultimately located what the Coast Guard originally described as a debris field on the sea floor, which included identifiable pieces of the sub, authorities confirmed that afternoon.

"This morning, an ROV, or remote operated vehicle, from the vessel Horizon Arctic, discovered the tail cone of the Titan submersible approximately 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic on the sea floor," said Mauger at a news briefing. "The ROV subsequently found additional debris. In consultation with experts from within the unified command, the debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber."

"Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families," he added. "On behalf of the United States 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 and I hope that this discovery provides some solace during this difficult time."

Mauger said authorities were "still working to develop the details for the timeline involved with this casualty and the response," and referenced the "incredibly complex operating environment along the sea floor, over two miles beneath the surface."

Paul Hankins, an undersea expert for the U.S. Navy, explained during the news conference that crews discovered "five different major pieces of debris that told us that it was the remains of the Titan." These pieces included, initially, the nose cone, which was outside of the pressure hull. 

"We then found a large debris field," Hankins said. "Within that large debris field, we found the front end bell of the pressure hull. That was our first indication that there was a catastrophic event."

A second, smaller debris field was located shortly after, and the debris found there "comprised the totality of that pressure vessel," Hankins said. 

"The debris field is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel," he said, adding that the team will continue to map the debris field area.

Asked by a reporter what the prospects were for recovering the passengers, Mauger said, "This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor, and the debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel. So we'll continue to work and continue to search the area down there, but I don't have an answer for prospects at this time."

Discovering the Titan debris came after multiple agencies from the U.S. and Canada spent days scouring thousands of square miles of open ocean in search of the missing sub.

The U.S. Coast Guard announced Wednesday that  underwater noises were detected  in the search area and that searches involving ROVs were  focusing on the area where the noises were heard .

On Wednesday, three more vessels had arrived to join the search, including one with side-scan sonar capabilities designed to create images of large sections of the sea floor, the Coast Guard said in a  tweet . That vessel began conducting search patterns alongside at least two others, as multiple military and other agencies worked together under a unified command. 

Frederick said Wednesday there were five "surface assets" involved in the search , and another five were expected to join the operation within the next 24 to 48 hours. He said the team also had two ROVs "actively searching," with several more due to arrive to join the search Thursday.

The Coast Guard  said  it had C-130 aircraft searching for the sub, and that the Rescue Coordination Center Halifax was assisting with a P-8 Poseidon aircraft, which has underwater detection capabilities. Canadian P-3s were also involved in the operation and deployed sonar buoys.

Just after midnight Wednesday, officials said  aircraft had detected underwater noises  in the search area, and underwater search operations were relocated as a result, though the origin of the noises remained unknown. The sounds were picked up several times Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, according to the Coast Guard. 

"With respect to the noises, specifically, we don't know what they are, to be frank with you," Frederick said. "The P-3 detected noises, that's why they're up there, that's why they're doing what they're doing, that's why there are sonar buoys in the water."

News of the vanished submersible and subsequent rescue mission originally broke Monday morning. At the time, Lt. Jordan Hart of the Coast Guard in Boston told CBS News that personnel there were leading the rescue mission, and focusing on waters off Newfoundland in eastern Canada. 

The Boston Regional Coordination Center was managing the rescue operation, as the location of the Titanic shipwreck falls within the Boston coordination center's territory, according to a  map  of jurisdictions along the East Coast of North America.

That combined search area grew to about twice the size of the state of Connecticut, and the subsurface search extended down as far as 2 and a half miles deep, Frederick said, stressing that the search and rescue teams were dealing with an incredibly complex set of circumstances.

"We also have to factor in the ever-changing weather conditions, currents and sea states that expand the search area every hour," he said earlier in the week. "There's an enormous complexity associated with this case due to the location being so far offshore and the coordination between multiple agencies and nations. We greatly appreciate the outpouring of support and offers to provide additional equipment."

What caused the noises?

Frederick acknowledged that the sounds detected underwater by Canadian aircraft could have been caused by multiple sources. 

Following the discovery of the sub debris on the sea floor, a U.S. Navy source told CBS News that the implosion would be inconsistent with banging noises heard at 30-minute intervals. Those noises, the official said, are now assessed as having come from other ships in the area.

Carl Hartsfield, an expert in underwater acoustics and the director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which is on-site at the search area as a consultant, explained that it can be challenging to differentiate between "human sounds" and "nature sounds" coming from beneath the surface.

"The ocean is a very complex place, obviously, human sounds, nature sounds, and it's very difficult to discern what the sources of those noises are at times," Hartsfield said. 

Before the sub was found, Chris Roman, an associate professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, told CBS News that, technically, it was possible that sounds from inside a submersible could have been detected, but that wasn't the only potential source of the noise.

"Sound travels very efficiently underwater. If people were intentionally making noises within the sub, it's very likely they could be detected with a sound buoy, and that position can be translated into a new search area," Roman said. But he also noted that, as Frederick mentioned in his briefing, "there's a lot of other things in the ocean that make noises."

The submarine

The unique submersible craft that disappeared was owned by OceanGate Expeditions , a company that deploys manned submarines for deep sea exploration and has in the past advertised this particular sub's voyages to carry tourists down to the wreckage of the RMS Titanic for $250,000 per seat. 

More than a century after the Titanic sank in April 1912, the wreck lies on the ocean floor about 400 miles southeast of the Newfoundland coast. 

OceanGate said recently on its website and on social media that its expedition to the shipwreck was "underway," describing the seven-night trip as a "chance to step outside of everyday life and discover something truly extraordinary." In addition to one ongoing expedition, the company had planned two others for the summer of next year, according to the site. 

Because of the sub's oxygen capacity, it can only be fully submerged for a portion of the weeklong voyage. The sub has emergency oxygen and a 96-hour sustainment capability if there's an emergency aboard, Mauger said.

In a statement Monday after news broke of the missing sub, OceanGate confirmed the missing submersible was theirs and that a rescue operation had been launched to find and recover it. The company said it was "exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely." 

"For some time, we have been unable to establish communications with one of our submersible exploration vehicles which is currently visiting the wreck site of the Titanic," said Andrew Von Kerens, a spokesperson for OceanGate. "We pray for the safe return of the crew and passengers, and we will provide updates as they are available."

Inside the Titan

Dubbed the Titan, OceanGate's deep sea vessel, was said to be the only five-person submersible in the world with the capabilities to reach the Titanic's depth, nearly 2 and a half miles beneath the ocean's surface, CBS "Sunday Mornings" correspondent David Pogue reported last year. 

BBC News reported that the vessel typically carries a pilot, three paying guests and another person described as a "content expert" by the company.  OceanGate's site says the Titan, weighing around 23,000 pounds, has the ability to reach depths of up to 4,000 meters — over 13,000 feet — and has about 96 hours of life support for a crew of five people.

Last summer, Pogue accompanied the Titan crew on the journey from Newfoundland to the site where the Titanic as lost. Several dive attempts had to be canceled when weather conditions indicated it may not be safe. At the time, he described the Titan as a one-of-a-kind submersible craft made from thick carbon fiber and coated on both ends by a dome of titanium. 

In 2018, a former employee of OceanGate Expeditions, submersible pilot David Lochridge, voiced concerns about the safety of the Titanic tour sub and filed a lawsuit against the company . 

Lochridge, who was fired by OceanGate and sued by the company for allegedly disclosing confidential information in a whistleblower complaint to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said in a court filing that the Titan would carry passengers as deep as 4,000 meters even though that depth had never been reached in a sub with its type of carbon fiber hull. According to his claim, he learned the vessel was built to withstand a certified pressure of 1,300 meters, although OceanGate planned to take passengers to 4,000 meters.  

Lochridge was not the only skeptic. The same year his complaint was filed, other industry leaders approached OceanGate with questions about the safety of its submersible. William Kohnen, president and CEO of Hydrospace Group, outlined his concerns in a 2018 letter to OceanGate, originally published by The New York Times, that warned of potentially "catastrophic" issues with the "experimental" sub, which was not certified. Kohnen told CBS News on Wednesday that although he did not send it, the letter was leaked to OceanGate and prompted the company to "amend a number of details that made sure the public knew" the submersible had not received its certification.

"The letter to Oceangate was meant as a professional courtesy to the CEO expressing industry concerns that the company was not following a traditional classification route for the certification of the submersible," Kohnen said. "The industry operates along an established and dynamic set of safety regulations and protocols that have served the submersible industry worldwide."

Ahead of his planned dive last summer, Pogue recalled signing paperwork that read, in part, "This experimental vessel has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, emotional trauma, or death." 

Space inside the submarine was similar to the interior of a minivan, and, with just one button and a video game controller used to steer it, the vessel "seemed improvised, with off-the-shelf components," Pogue said.

On his voyage, the  sub was lost for a few hours , Pogue said.

"There's no GPS underwater, so the surface ship is supposed to guide the sub to the shipwreck by sending text messages," he reported at the time. "But on this dive, communications somehow broke down."

You may remember that the @OceanGateExped sub to the #Titanic got lost for a few hours LAST summer, too, when I was aboard…Here’s the relevant part of that story. https://t.co/7FhcMs0oeH pic.twitter.com/ClaNg5nzj8 — David Pogue (@Pogue) June 19, 2023

Were conditions right for the dive?

G. Michael Harris, founder of RMS Titanic, Inc. — a company that salvages artifacts from the Titanic wreckage — told CBS News on Tuesday evening that Titanic expeditions are generally conducted within a "three-month weather window" between the end of June and September, when the ocean waters are at their calmest.

Harris, who has led several expeditions to the wreckage site, questioned why the Titan's dive was conducted as early as Sunday.

"Right now, it's really early in the season. I'm not sure why OceanGate went out this soon," Harris said.

Harris also noted that when he conducts diving expeditions, he uses a transponder system, something that he believed the Titan likely did not have.

"It's a net that we navigate in so that we know where we are at all times on the wreck of the Titanic," Harris said. "We're in constant communication with the vessel up top."

Harris said the Titan was "put on a sled and dumped in the water and their only navigation is from the support ship up top."

"I don't adhere to that myself, personally," Harris said. 

Harris noted that he has worked with Nargeolet, who is listed as director of underwater research for RMS Titanic, for the past 30 years, describing him as an "all-around good guy."

Who was Hamish Harding?

Harding, the first of the passengers to be publicly identified, had previously posted on social media about joining the Titanic shipwreck expedition.

In a post shared to his  Facebook  page on Saturday, Harding wrote: "I am proud to finally announce that I joined OceanGate Expeditions for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic."

I am proud to finally announce that I joined OceanGate Expeditions for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist... Posted by Hamish Harding on  Saturday, June 17, 2023

"Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023," Harding's Facebook post continued. "A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow. We started steaming from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada yesterday and are planning to start dive operations around 4am tomorrow morning. Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do."

That post was Harding's most recent social media update related to the submarine trip. It included multiple photographs of him, including one that showed Harding signing his name on a banner that read "Titanic Expedition Mission V" and another that pictured the submersible vessel itself.

Richard Garriott de Cayeux, president of The Explorers Club, where Harding helped found the board of trustees, said they had spoken just a week earlier about the expedition. 

"When I saw Hamish last week at the Global Exploration Summit, his excitement about this expedition was palpable. I know he was looking forward to conducting research at the site," he said in a letter to club members after the sub's disappearance.

Harding was a veteran adventure tourist who also  traveled to space  aboard a Blue Origin rocket last year. Two years ago, he made it to the deepest part of the ocean, traveling with U.S. explorer  Victor Vescovo  to the floor of the Mariana Trench, 35,876 feet below the sea surface. That trip, in a $48 million submersible, earned both explorers the Guinness World Record for the  longest distance traveled  at the deepest part of the ocean by a crewed vessel.

"It was potentially scary, but I was so busy doing so many things — navigating and triangulating my position — that I did not really have time to be scared," Harding told  The Week  after that excursion.

This is an updated version of an article originally published on Monday, June 19. Reporting contributed by Emmet Lyons, Roxana Saberi, Alex Sundby, Aimee Picchi, Aliza Chasan, Li Cohen, Caroline Hinson, Anna Noryskiewicz, Analisa Novak and other CBS News staff.

• Newfoundland
• United States Coast Guard

Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She covers breaking news, often focusing on crime and extreme weather. Emily Mae has previously written for outlets including the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.

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Titanic tourist submersible carrying 5 disappears on trip to see wreck in North Atlantic

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An intensifying search-and-rescue mission was underway Monday after a submersible watercraft used for tourist expeditions to view the wreck of the Titanic went missing Sunday with five people aboard in the North Atlantic, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard said on Twitter that it was searching for a 21-foot submersible from the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince that lost contact about 900 miles east of Cape Cod, Mass. The vessel “submerged Sunday morning, and the crew of the Polar Prince lost contact with them approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes into the vessel’s dive,” the Coast Guard wrote on Twitter.

A search-and-rescue mission is underway after a submersible used for tourist expeditions to view the Titanic wreck went missing in the North Atlantic.

One pilot or sub-commander operator and four mission specialists were on board, Coast Guard Rear Adm. John W. Mauger said in a Monday afternoon news conference. He declined to identify those on the missing vessel by name.

A C-130 aircraft is being used to conduct an aerial search both visually and with radar, according to Mauger. The Coast Guard has also coordinated with the Canadian coast guard and armed forces to deploy more assets. The Canadian coast guard also has committed a C-130 aircraft, as well as a submarine and sonar buoys to aid in the search.

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The missing vessel was designed with a 96-hour sustainment capability if there’s any emergency onboard. Mauger said officials “anticipate that there is somewhere between the 70 to full 96 hours.”

“We’re using that time, making the best use of every moment of that time to locate the vessel,” he said.

The location being searched is a “remote area” about 13,000 feet deep, making it a challenging search-and-rescue effort, he said.

The U.S. Coast Guard will continue to fly the aircraft and move additional vessels into the area over the next couple of days to help with the search.

The Guardian reported that the sub is operated by OceanGate Expeditions, a company that offers visits to the Titanic wreck .

OceanGate confirmed its vessel was missing and posted a statement on Twitter on Monday afternoon. “We are exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely,” the company said. “Our entire focus is on the crew members in the submersible and their families.”

pic.twitter.com/JmH8e47zuI — OceanGate Expeditions (@OceanGateExped) June 19, 2023

The Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Halifax, Canada, received a call at 9:13 p.m. Sunday from the maritime rescue coordination center in Boston requesting “assistance for the search of the overdue research sub,” said Lt. Cmdr. Len Hickey. The sub had lost contact with its surface vessel, Hickey said.

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The center provided a fixed-wing aircraft and a Canadian coast guard vessel to aid in the search.

Hickey was unable to provide more information and referred additional questions to the Coast Guard‘s Boston base, which is leading the effort.

David Concannon, an advisor to the company, said OceanGate lost contact with the sub Sunday morning. In an email to the Associated Press on Monday afternoon, he said it had a 96-hour oxygen supply. Concannon was supposed to be on the dive but had other commitments. He said officials are working to get a remotely operated vehicle that can reach a depth of about 20,000 feet to the site as soon as possible.

The Titanic , which sank in 1912, is about 13,000 feet below the surface at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean nearly 400 nautical miles off the Newfoundland coast.

According to OceanGate’s website , which worked intermittently Monday, a deep-sea voyage to view the Titanic wreck was underway.

Representatives for the Coast Guard did not immediately return repeated requests for comment, nor did OceanGate Expeditions representatives.

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According to its website, OceanGate is a privately owned company in Everett, Wash., established in 2009, that operates a trio of five‑person submersibles for “site survey, scientific research, film production and exploration travel.” Its vessels can reach about 13,123 feet deep, the company said.

The company offers an eight-day, seven-night voyage to the Titanic wreck, according to its website. The trip runs about $250,000, according to the site.

“Become one of the few to see the Titanic with your own eyes,” the company says on its Titanic expeditions page.

The trip sets off from and returns to the city of St. John’s in Newfoundland, and takes “intrepid travelers” aboard a submersible called the Titan to explore the site of the Titanic wreck. Dive expeditions can begin as early as Day 3, according to the website. The Titan carries up to five people, the website said.

The website states no previous dive experience is necessary but details some physical requirements for passengers, including being able to board small boats in rough seas and sit for long periods of time. Explorers must also be at least 18, the website said.

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Those embarking on the expedition receive a vessel orientation and safety briefing after boarding, the company said on its website.

Hamish Harding, the chairman of Action Aviation, a Dubai-based company dealing in aviation sales and acquisitions, is among those on the expedition, according to Harding’s social media posts and confirmed by Action Aviation.

The expedition left from St. Johns on Friday, Harding wrote on his Facebook page . A “weather window” had opened up, allowing for a dive to the wreck Sunday. It was likely to be the only “manned mission” this year because of the harsh winter, Harding wrote.

Action Aviation also posted on Twitter about the voyage .

“4am start this morning on the RMS Titanic Expedition Mission 5 with @oceangateexped,” Action Aviation wrote on Twitter on June 18. “The sub had a successful launch and Hamish is currently diving. Stay tuned for further updates!”

Harding wrote on Instagram that the team on the sub has “legendary explorers,” including Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a veteran and accomplished diver with more than 30 trips to the wreck site .

The Titanic was a British luxury liner that made its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, on April 10, 1912, bound for New York with 2,227 passengers and crew aboard. But the vessel, then the largest in the world, rammed an iceberg and sank in the early morning hours of April 15, killing more than 1,500 people .

In September 1985, an American and French team of researchers found the liner thousands of feet down.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Coast Guard searches for 5-person crew aboard submersible that went missing on dive to Titanic wreck

The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a missing Canadian research submersible that disappeared Sunday after it went to explore the wreck of the Titanic .

The 21-foot submersible and its five-person crew, from the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince, started a dive Sunday morning, the Coast Guard said. But the Polar Prince lost contact with the vessel after an hour and 45 minutes.

The missing submersible — which is named Titan, according to T he Associated Press — is part of an OceanGate Expeditions tour exploring the Titanic wreckage, 900 nautical miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The private company charters trips to explore the wreckage with its research teams.

Rear Adm. John Mauger, the commander of the Coast Guard district leading the search, said authorities received a call for help from OceanGate on Sunday afternoon after the crew lost contact and the submersible missed its return time. He said the Coast Guard immediately launched a surface and aerial search to find or recover the submersible and any survivors.

"We really brought all assets that we have available to us to bear on finding the submersible and the people in it," Mauger said. "We understand from the operator of the submersible that there is a 96-hour reserve capacity on there, and so that gives us some time to effect a search. But when something happens on the high seas, it gets complicated quickly."

One of the missing crew members is Hamish Harding, the billionaire owner and chairman of Action Aviation. A post Sunday on Harding's Instagram account said he was joining OceanGate’s expedition "as a mission specialist" — typically a one-time crew member who pays a fee to join the effort.

The fees from those crew members “underwrite the mission, the participation of the science team, and their own mission,” OceanGate’s website says.

The company said it was working with numerous government agencies to aid in the rescue.

“Our entire focus is on the crew members in the submersible and their families, we are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible,” OceanGate said in a statement.

Mauger said the Coast Guard has brought in technical experts, dropped sonar buoys to listen for underwater noise and reached out to other government agencies and private contractors for aid and "to really better understand what an undersea search and rescue effort would look like."

Coast Guard officials said at a news conference Monday afternoon that they have deployed two C-130 aircraft for an aerial search and that the sonar buoys can listen to a depth of 13,000 feet.

The New York National Guard is providing a third C-130, and the Canadian Coast Guard provided a C-130, as well as a P8 Poseidon aircraft that has underwater detection capabilities.

The Coast Guard said it is also relying on commercial boat operators that were already in the nearby waters, as well as OceanGate’s mother ship, Polar Prince, for help.

Mauger added at the news conference that the Coast Guard is working to expand its capabilities to include an underwater search, as well.

OceanGate’s submersibles have shorter power cycles than submarines, and they are tied to mother ships (the Polar Prince in this instance) when they are operating far from land. Submarines, by contrast, can typically travel long distances independently and use ports as home bases.

OceanGate’s expeditions include a 10-day trip with 18 dives off a larger boat to a maximum depth of 12,800 feet, according to the company. People may pay as much as $250,000 to join the exploration, The New York Times reported last year .

OceanGate's website says that during visits to the Titanic site, its teams collect images, videos and laser and sonar data for scientific study, document the condition of the wreck and gather information about the flora and fauna using the sunken ship as their maritime home.

Considered the world’s most famous shipwreck, the Titanic was an opulent 883-foot ocean liner. Thought to be “unsinkable,” it shocked the world in 1912 when it struck ice in the Atlantic Ocean and sank. More than 1,500 people died.

The wreckage was discovered in 1985, about 350 miles off Newfoundland . Surrounded by debris, the ship’s two main pieces are around 2,000 feet apart, according to a full-size scan that was released this year .

Continued fascination with the Titanic has sparked a tourism industry around it and its sinking, particularly after the release of the eponymous 1997 film by the director James Cameron.

Phil McCausland is an NBC News reporter.

Canadian aircraft detects underwater noises during search for missing submersible, US Coast Guard says

Editor's note: This page reflects the news of the missing submarine from Tuesday, June 20. For the latest updates on the race against time in the search for the missing tourist submersible, follow our live updates for Wednesday, June 21 .

Underwater noises were detected in the North Atlantic Ocean while U.S. and Canadian crews searched for the small vessel carrying five people that vanished two days earlier in a dive to the Titanic wreckage site , the U.S. Coast Guard announced early Wednesday.

A Canadian aircraft heard "underwater noises in the search area," the Coast Guard said on Twitter shortly before 12:30 a.m. ET. The noises prompted remotely operated vehicle operations to search for the origin of the noises.

"Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue," the Coast Guard said on Twitter. "Additionally, the data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our U.S. Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans."

U.S. and Canadian ships and aircrafts had intensified search efforts Tuesday amid oxygen supply concerns. As of Tuesday morning, a total of 10,000 square miles had been searched, according to the Coast Guard.

Capt. Jamie Frederick of the First Coast Guard District in Boston said the Titan, as the submersible is known, had "about 40 hours of breathable air left" around 1 p.m. ET Tuesday, meaning its oxygen supply could get depleted by Thursday morning.

He added that an underwater robot had started searching in the vicinity of the Titanic and that there was a push to get salvage equipment to the scene in case the sub is found. Besides that, three C-130 aircraft and three C-17 transport planes from the U.S. military have been aiding the search, and the Canadian military said it provided a patrol aircraft and two surface ships.

Still, the remote location − 900 miles east of Cape Cod and up 13,000 feet below sea level − make the pursuit "an incredibly complex operation,'' Frederick said.

The carbon-fiber submersible had a 96-hour oxygen supply when it went to sea at about 6 a.m. Sunday, according to David Concannon, an adviser to OceanGate Expeditions, the deep-sea exploration company that owns the vessel.

The five-person watercraft was reported overdue Sunday night. It had lost contact with its support ship, the Canadian research icebreaker Polar Prince, about an hour and 45 minutes after submerging.

Among those aboard are OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who was piloting the Titan, British adventurer Hamish Harding, two members of a Pakistani business family, and a Titanic expert.

LATEST NEWS: Missing Titanic submarine live updates: Noises detected in search; company faced safety questions

Jim Bellingham, a Johns Hopkins University expert on deep-sea operations, told USA TODAY that there are three possible locations for the submersible. One possibility is that it could be floating on the ocean's surface after an electrical failure or some other mishap; another is that it is drifting in the water column − anywhere between the surface and the bottom − because it became buoyantly neutral; or it could be on the sea floor, perhaps tangled with something that won't let it float to the top.

The first one is by far the best position, Bellingham said, because even though it would be difficult to spot the 21-foot-long Titan amid the waves, "the Coast Guard is just awesome at this. They have amazing capability to see something pretty small in the ocean."

'Banging' noise heard during search, internal memo says

Crews detected “banging” and “acoustic feedback” sounds Tuesday while searching for the Titan submersible, according to an internal memo sent to Department of Homeland Security leadership that was obtained by Rolling Stone and CNN .

A Canadian aircraft heard the banging sounds every 30 minutes, according to the memo. Additional sonar was deployed and the banging could still be heard four hours later. The internal update did not state what time the banging was heard or exactly how long it lasted.

In an update Tuesday night, crews said more acoustic feedback was heard.

"Additional acoustic feedback was heard and will assist in vectoring surface assets and also indicating continued hope of survivors," according to the update.

It is unclear if an early Wednesday update from the Coast Guard is related to the internal memo.

Pennsylvania explorer says it will be 'difficult' to find Titan

Pennsylvania explorer and CEO of Hagen Construction, Fred Hagen, visited the Titanic wreckage twice aboard the now-missing Titan submersible.

Hagen shared his concerns and worries about the crew's safety, especially with his two friends, Nargeolet and Rush, aboard. He said it will be very difficult to find the Titan, "because it was difficult to find the Titanic."

On his two trips aboard the Titan in 2021 and last summer, Hagen said the submersible lost contact with its mother ship on the ocean's surface at times but was able to re-establish communications. He fears that won't be the case here but said he didn't want to give up hope and that there "could be an act of God" to save the ship.

-Peg Quann, Bucks County Courier Times

A challenging search operation

Rear Adm. John Mauger, commander of the First Coast Guard District, told NBC’s "Today" show Tuesday that his crews were working to prioritize underwater search efforts and get equipment there. Experts told The Associated Press the challenges are difficult.

Alistair Greig, a professor of marine engineering at University College London, said submersibles typically have a drop weight, which is "a mass they can release in the case of an emergency to bring them up to the surface using buoyancy." A power failure would leave the vessel "bobbing" on the surface, he said.

There could also be a leak in the pressure hull, he said.

"If it has gone down to the seabed and can’t get back up under its own power, options are very limited," Greig said. "While the submersible might still be intact, if it is beyond the continental shelf, there are very few vessels that can get that deep, and certainly not divers."

What you need to know about sub: Maps, graphics show last location, depth and design

Report: Experts warned OceanGate of 'catastrophic' outcome

OceanGate, the company that operates the missing submersible, was warned its approach to the enterprise could have a "catastrophic'' outcome, according to a 2018 letter written by leaders in the submersible craft industry obtained by The New York Times .

The letter was addressed to OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush − who's on board the current voyage, according to the company − by members of the Marine Technology Society, an organization that advocates for ocean technology and education.

The 30-plus signatories said they were apprehensive about the company's “experimental” approach to its planned exploration of the Titanic wreckage and about the vessel's design, believing they could lead to safety problems that would have a negative impact on the industry as a whole.

The letter also says OceanGate's claim that its watercraft design meets or surpasses safety standards is "misleading to the public and breaches an industry-wide professional code of conduct we all endeavor to uphold.''

Passengers asked to help with tasks, limit toilet use

OceanGate Expeditions' website, accessed through the Internet Archive by USA TODAY, said all passengers on expeditions are required to be briefed on safety requirements and how to don what it described as a "survival suit."

A survival suit can protect people from freezing water and some specialized suits can act as a raft approved for use when submerged up to 600 feet , according to the Department of Defense. OceanGate's website didn't specify what kind of suit passengers have access to. The Titan takes passengers down more than 13,000 feet.

Passengers on the submersible are also advised to "restrict your diet before and during the dive to reduce the likelihood that you will need to use the facilities," the website says. 

Those going on submersible diving expeditions have to be at least age 18 and able to demonstrate basic strength and balance requirements, such as climbing a ladder and carrying 20 pounds, the site says. 

Passengers might assist with a variety of tasks on the submersible, the website says, including sonar operation, taking photos or videos and assisting the pilot with communications between the sub and the surface. 

Organ failure a major threat as oxygen levels dip

Dr. Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, said those aboard the submersible would be experiencing organ failure as oxygen levels dip and less of it flows to the brain. This leads to weakness, confusion and loss of consciousness.

"If somebody has a pre-existing heart condition, that may precipitate a problem as those low oxygen levels develop," Rizzo said.

Anxiety and fear, speech and a faster heart rate can increase the amount of oxygen a person uses, he added.

"There's a lot of unknowns here as to how the oxygen is supplied in the submersible itself, but it really depends on the rate at which each individual consumes the oxygen as to how long it's going to last," he said.

The submersible's ability to filter out carbon dioxide is also a concerning factor if compromised, said Dr. Alexander Isakov, Emory University emergency medicine physician and a former diving medical officer with the U.S. Navy. High carbon dioxide levels are dangerous and can lead to fatigue, hyperventilation, coma and death, he said.

Life-threatening hypothermia is also a concern, he said. The submersible's ability to maintain a comfortable temperature is essential amid the extreme cold of the ocean's depths.

− Nada Hassanein

Where is the search area for the submersible?

The U.S. Coast Guard in Boston is combing the ocean surface and below water in search of the submersible, using tools including sonar technology and aircraft.

The location − about 900 miles east of Cape Cod and up to 13,000 feet deep − complicates the task, as does the need to look both on the ocean surface and below, the Coast Guard said.

"We are deploying all available assets to make sure that we can locate the craft and rescue the people on board," Mauger said.

When did the Titanic submarine go missing?

The craft launched Sunday morning, but its support vessel lost contact with it about an hour and 45 minutes later, according to the Coast Guard.

The Titan disappeared in the North Atlantic Ocean, the remote area where the massive ocean liner the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in 1912. All but about 700 of the roughly 2,200 passengers and crew died.

The Titan was being launched from an icebreaker hired by OceanGate and formerly operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. The ship ferried dozens of people and the submersible to the North Atlantic site, where the Titan makes multiple dives.

Where is the wreckage of the Titanic?

This was OceanGate Expedition's third annual voyage to the Titanic since 2021. The ship is at a depth of nearly 2½ miles. The Washington-based deep-sea exploration company has taken archaeologists, marine biologists and tourists to the site of the wreckage.

Who is on board the submersible?

The Coast Guard said one pilot and four “mission specialists” were aboard. “Mission specialists” are people who pay to come along on OceanGate’s expeditions. They take turns operating sonar equipment and performing other tasks in the submersible.

An initial group of tourists in 2021 paid $100,000 to $150,000 apiece to visit the wreck site. OceanGate’s website described the “mission support fee” for the 2023 expedition as $250,000 a person.

British businessman Hamish Harding, who lives in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, was one of the mission specialists, according to Action Aviation, a company for which Harding is chairman.

Closer look at the people on board: Who is on the missing Titanic submersible? Passengers include Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood

Harding is an adventurer who holds three Guinness World Records, including the longest duration at full ocean depth by a crewed vessel. In March 2021, he and ocean explorer Victor Vescovo dived to the lowest depth of the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific. In June 2022, he flew into space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.

Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, members of one of Pakistan's most prominent families, also were on board, according to a family statement sent to The Associated Press. The family is known for investments in agriculture, industry and the health sector. Shahzada Dawood also is on the board of trustees for the California-based SETI Institute, which searches for extraterrestrial intelligence.

French explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet also was on board, according to David Gallo, a senior adviser for strategic initiatives and special projects at RMS Titanic. Gallo identified Nargeolet, a friend who has led multiple expeditions to the Titanic, on Tuesday during an interview with CNN.

CBS correspondent describes getting 'lost' on previous submersible trip

CBS News correspondent David Pogue tweeted about his experience last year joining the crew and a group of tourists to see the wreck, but he said the submersible "got lost for a few hours" on that trip.

"There's no GPS underwater," and communications between the submersible and a surface ship guiding it broke down on part of that trip, too, Pogue said in his report , which aired in November.

"An experimental submersible vessel that has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body ... could result in physical injury, disability, emotional trauma or death," Pogue read from a form he signed on camera in the report.

The submersible has about as much room as a minivan, Pogue said. "I couldn't help noticing how many pieces of this sub seemed improvised," Pogue said, showing viewers what he described as a small "sort-of" toilet.

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush showed Pogue a video game controller and said it was used to "run the whole thing."

Rush said important components of the submersible like the pressure vessel were solidly engineered alongside NASA, Boeing and the University of Washington. "Everything else can fail. Your thrusters can go, your lights can go, you're still going to be safe," Rush told Pogue.

One member of that trip, bank executive Renata Rojas, said she had been booked on three Titanic dives that were all canceled.

What is a submersible?

 A submersible is a vessel in the submarine family but smaller and less self-sufficient than the classic military sub.

Contributing: Francisco Guzman, Donovan Slack, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

Search operations for missing Titanic sub continue

Not many ships that have equipment to reach those depths, one expert said.

Nautical experts, the U.S. and Canadian navies and the U.S. Coast Guard are scrambling to get the necessary equipment and personnel to help locate the five people in the tour submersible that left Sunday to view the wreckage of the Titanic.

But even with their specialized tech, search and rescue teams are facing major obstacles that could make saving the people onboard extremely difficult, according to a former Navy submarine commander.

Retired Capt. David Marquet told ABC News on Monday that this type of rescue operation is complicated because there are no U.S. or Canadian underwater vessels nearby that can go as deep as the Titanic wreckage, which sits 13,000 feet below the ocean's surface. The ocean is also pitch-black at that depth, creating another major problem, he said.

"The odds are against them," Marquet said. "There's a ship in Boston that has this ability to either lower cable and connect to it or have a claw. It's still a thousand miles away."

MORE: Submersible on Titanic tour reported missing off Newfoundland with 5 people aboard

However, on Wednesday a U.S. Navy official told ABC News it had sent a portable crane system that can reach 20,000 feet deep to St. John’s, Newfoundland, so it can be welded onto a ship to take it to the search area for the missing submersible.

It could be days before the crane can be used because the Navy has not yet contracted a ship for use with the FADOSS system.

“Our estimate is (an) approximately 24 hours around the clock operation to weld it and secure it to the deck of the vessel prior to getting underway,” the official said.

The submersible vessel is designed to hold 96 hours of oxygen, Rear Adm. John Mauger, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard First District, told reporters Monday. The air is predicted to run out Thursday morning, according to the Coast Guard.

On Monday, the Coast Guard said it had conducted a search of the surface of the water for the missing submersible in conjunction with the Canadian Coast Guard and Canadian Armed Forces.

The Bahamian research vessel Deep Energy, which specializes in pipe-laying and has remotely operated vehicle capabilities, arrived on Tuesday morning to help with the search.

The Pentagon said Tuesday that three U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo aircraft were transporting commercial equipment from Buffalo, New York, to St. John’s, Newfoundland, to aid the rescue efforts.

MORE: Missing Titanic tourist submersible live updates

Additionally, the Navy announced it was sending experts and a Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System, or FADOSS, which it described as a “motion compensated lift system designed to provide reliable deep ocean lifting capacity for the recovery of large, bulky, and heavy undersea objects such as aircraft or small vessels.”

The New York Air National Guard’s 106 Rescue Wing out of Westhampton, which flies out a version of the C130 that specializes in search and rescue, was deployed to help with the search, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Tuesday.

The 106th flies fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft and rescue helicopters and has a unit of pararescue jumpers who are trained to rescue people on sea and land, according to the governor's office.

Early morning on Wednesday, Canadian aircraft with sonar capabilities detected "underwater noises" in the search area. Coast Guard crews said they did not know what was causing the noise.

If the search parties can locate the submersible and lower a cable, it will be extremely difficult to safely navigate the waters and attach it, Marquet said.

"You've got to get it exactly right. It's sort of like ... getting one of those toys out of those arcade machines. In general, you miss," he said.

Rescuers do have one advantage, Marquet said, as weather conditions off the coast of Newfoundland are not rough and will not disturb any boat or vessel there.

The 21-foot submersible lost communication with the mainland 1 hour and 45 minutes after it embarked on its tour of the Titanic wreckage on Sunday.

MORE: Video US Coast Guard briefs on missing submersible with five believed to be aboard

In ABC News’ interview with Marquet earlier this week, he said if the five people are still alive, their best course of action would be to sleep to conserve their oxygen.

"We would put the vast majority of the crew to sleep because that's when you're using the least amount of oxygen and you're expelling the least amount of carbon dioxide," he said.

ABC News' Luis Martinez and Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.

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Titan engineer felt 'under pressure' to get doomed submersible out to sea

The lead engineer on the submersible Titan which imploded as it dived on a mission to view the Titanic has told an iniquiry he felt “under pressure” to get the experimental vessel in the water.

British adventurer Hamish Harding and father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood were killed on board the Titan deep-sea vessel in June last year, alongside French national Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

Stockton Rush, who was the chief executive of OceanGate Expeditions, was also killed when the craft imploded in June 2023.

A marine board of investigation hearing into the tragedy opened in Charleston, South Carolina, on Monday.

Engineer Tony Nissen, who had worked on the Titan project for the company Oceangate , told the inquiry he had years before refused to pilot the craft over safety concerns.

When asked by the inquiry if there was pressure to get the Titan into the water, he told panel members “100%”.

He added that he had stopped the submersible from going to the Titanic in 2019, telling Mr Rush that the Titan was “not working like we thought it would”. The engineer told the hearing he was sacked later that year.

He said he was aware that Titan had undergone more testing before it carried out any more deep sea operations. The engineer also told the inquiry he did not think the pressure on him to ready the Titan for launch had compromised safety.

Mr Nissen, OceanGate’s former engineering director, was the first witness to give evidence at the two-week US Coast Guard hearing.

The deep-sea vessel was on an expedition to the Titanic wreckage around 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland, when it lost contact with the tour operator an hour and 45 minutes into the two-hour descent, with the vessel reported missing eight hours after communication was lost.

After days of searching, wreckage from the submersible was recovered from the ocean floor near the Titanic.

One of the last messages from the Titan’s crew to the support ship Polar Prince before the submersible imploded stated “all good here,” the hearing was told.

OceanGate, based in Washington state, suspended operations after the implosion.

Jason Neubauer, chairman of the Titan Marine Board of Investigation, held a press conference on Sunday ahead of the hearing.

“Over the past 15 months, our team has worked continuously, in close co-ordination with multiple federal agencies, international partners and industry experts to uncover the facts surrounding this incident,” he said.

He said the upcoming hearing would allow them to hear key evidence from expert witnesses.

“These proceedings are not just a formality,” he said.

“They are a critical step in our mission to understand the contributing factors that led to the incident and, more importantly, the actions needed to prevent a similar occurrence.”

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What to Know About the Titan Submersible

Officials believe the vessel that set out to reach the Titanic shipwreck with five passengers suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said.

• Share full article

By Yonette Joseph and Eric Schmitt

A submersible watercraft with five people on board that went missing after setting out early Sunday to explore the Titanic shipwreck in the North Atlantic most likely suffered a “catastrophic implosion” with no survivors, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said on Thursday.

The U.S. Navy had detected “an anomaly consistent with an implosion or explosion” in the area of the vessel around the time communications were lost on Sunday, two senior Navy officials said on Thursday.

The identification was “not definitive,” one official said, and it was shared with the search effort. But officials made the decision to continue searching to “make every effort to save the lives on board.”

Here’s what else to know.

When and where did the submersible disappear?

The 22-foot carbon-fiber and titanium craft , called the Titan, was deployed by a Canadian expedition ship, the Polar Prince, to travel nearly 13,000 feet down to the shipwreck site, on the ocean floor off Newfoundland.

The Titan lost contact with the surface ship an hour and 45 minutes after it started to dive, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Who was on board?

Five people were in the submersible: Stockton Rush , the founder and chief executive of OceanGate Expeditions, which operated the vessel; Hamish Harding, a British businessman and explorer; another British businessman, Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman , from one of Pakistan’s wealthiest families; and Paul-Henri Nargeolet , a French maritime expert who had been on more than 35 dives to the Titanic wreck.

OceanGate said in a statement that everyone on the submersible had “sadly been lost.”

It added: “These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans. Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.”

Why was the Titan diving?

OceanGate, a private company based in Everett, Wash., organizes expeditions that can last up to nine days to travel to shipwrecks and underwater canyons.

According to the company’s website , OceanGate also provides crewed submersibles for commercial projects and scientific research.

Mr. Rush, an aerospace engineer and pilot, co-founded the company in 2009.

OceanGate called the Titan the only crewed submersible in the world that can take five people as deep as 4,000 meters — more than 13,100 feet — below the surface of the ocean.

The company has taken people on tours of the Titanic site since 2021, and guests have paid $250,000 to travel to the wreckage.

In 2018, leaders in the submersible craft industry were so worried about what they called the “experimental” approach of OceanGate that more than three dozen of them signed a letter to the company, obtained by The New York Times. They warned of possible “catastrophic” problems with the submersible’s development and the planned voyage to the Titanic wreckage.

Where is the Titanic wreck, exactly?

The R.M.S. Titanic , the biggest steamship in the world at the time, hit an iceberg four days into its first trans-Atlantic voyage in April 1912.

It sank to the bottom of the ocean, and more than 1,500 people died. The wreck was discovered in pieces in 1985, about 400 miles off Newfoundland.

Searchers scoured the sea.

The U.S. Coast Guard coordinated with the Canadian authorities and commercial vessels to search for the Titan.

A remotely operated vehicle, or R.O.V., from the Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic searched the sea floor, and a French vessel deployed its R.O.V. at the site, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Thursday on Twitter .

The U.S. Navy also sent a machine that can help recover heavy objects from the sea. Sonar buoys were deployed, and sonar was used to try to locate the submersible underwater. Aircraft from the United States and Canada, along with vessels, also scanned the ocean surface.

‘Unforgiving environment’

Search teams picked up underwater banging noises, but they did not appear to have any relation to the submersible’s wreckage, Rear Adm. John Mauger of the U.S. Coast Guard said at a news conference on Thursday.

He said a debris field found on the surface led to the discovery of the Titan’s tail cone and other pieces on the ocean floor Thursday morning, about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic wreck.

The discovery was consistent with a “catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber” in the submersible, he said, adding that it was too early to tell when the vessel imploded and that investigators were working on a time line of events.

Asked about the prospect of recovering the remains of the victims, Admiral Mauger said he did not have an answer: “This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor.”

He also said, “On behalf of the United States Coast Guard and the entire unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families.”

Reporting was contributed by Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs , Daniel Victor , Derrick Bryson Taylor , Mike Ives , William J. Broad , Anna Betts , Emma Bubola , Amanda Holpuch ,  John Ismay , Jesus Jiménez , Victoria Kim , Salman Masood , Matt Richtel and  Alan Yuhas .

Yonette Joseph is a senior news editor on The New York Times’s International Desk. More about Yonette Joseph

Eric Schmitt is a senior writer who has traveled the world covering terrorism and national security. He was also the Pentagon correspondent. A member of the Times staff since 1983, he has shared four Pulitzer Prizes. More about Eric Schmitt

Billionaire explains why he's planning voyage to Titanic site nearly year after submersible implosion

Nearly a year after five people died aboard the OceanGate "Titan" submersible while on a deep-sea voyage to the site of the Titanic, a billionaire has announced plans to go to the infamous wreck.

Entrepreneur and real estate investor Larry Connor said this week that he and Triton Submarines CEO Patrick Lahey are planning their own deep-sea expedition in a submersible.

Asked why, Connor told "Good Morning America" correspondent Will Reeve that the purpose of the voyage is to "demonstrate safety" of certified submersibles.

"If you look at submersibles that have been DNV certified ... there's never been an accident," he said. "The OceanGate vessel was not certified and never would have been."

While on a tour of the Titanic wreckage off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, in June 2023, the OceanGate submersible imploded underwater, killing all five people on board, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush. Following a dayslong search, the remnants of the missing submersible were found on the ocean floor about 1,600 feet from the bow of the wrecked Titanic.

Experts called the carbon fiber construction of the Titan fundamentally flawed and a whistleblower who worked on a predecessor to the Titan vessel raised concerns about the inefficiency of the hull design. Rush had previously defended the decision to manufacture the submersible with carbon fiber, saying he believed it would have a better strength-to-buoyancy ratio than titanium. The exact cause of the implosion remains under investigation by federal authorities.

Related Articles

MORE: James Cameron compares submersible tragedy to Titanic sinking: 'I'm struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster'

OceanGate, which suspended all exploration and commercial operations after the deadly implosion, could not be reached for comment.

Connor said he and Lahey are designing a new, safer and certified submersible, known as the Explorer, that could take two people to the Titanic site. The submersible will cost $13 million to $15 million and have an acrylic hull and offer a near-panoramic view.

Connor said he is "very confident" about the plan and would not do a dive if he was not "100% convinced" that the submersible was safe.

"The moment we don't meet one standard, the project is done," he said. "We will not compromise safety."

In addition to proving safety, he said continued deep-sea dives carry scientific benefits.

"Almost three-quarters of the earth is covered in water. Isn't doing research important and worthwhile, given that fact?" he said.

MORE: Why Titanic continues to captivate more than 100 years after its sinking

Hakeem Oluseyi, a physicist and ABC News contributor, said he doesn't think deep-sea submersibles "should be abandoned for a single accident."

"If you think about the early days of space travel, we lost an entire crew," he said. "But that tells us what we've done wrong in the past and how to get it right in the future."

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Ohio billionaire to take submarine to Titanic site one year after OceanGate implosion

Nearly one year after the oceangate submersible implosion, billionaire larry connor has teamed up with triton submarines co-founder patrick lahey to create a new vessel to visit the titanic, by brahmjot kaur | e online • published may 28, 2024 • updated on june 20, 2024 at 9:01 am.

Originally appeared on E! Online

The Titanic wreckage will have visitors once again.

Nearly one year after the OceanGate submersible imploded , billionaire real estate investor Larry Connor and Triton Submarines co-founder Patrick Lahey are developing a new vessel to visit the shipwreck.

24/7 New York news stream: Watch NBC 4 free wherever you are

"I want to show people worldwide that while the ocean is extremely powerful," Connor told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published May 26, "it can be wonderful and enjoyable and really kind of life-changing if you go about it the right way."

After the harrowing search for the Titan submersible last June captivated the world — which faced a tragic ending when the wreckage indicated none of the five passengers aboard had survived the implosion — the personal-sub industry took a major hit.

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"This tragedy had a chilling effect on people's interest in these vehicles," Lahey explained. "It reignited old myths that only a crazy person would dive in one of these things."

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So, it surprised Lahey when Connor reached out with a business proposition.

"We had a client, a wonderful man," Lahey recalled of Connor. "He called me up and said, ‘You know, what we need to do is build a sub that can dive to [Titanic-level depths] repeatedly and safely and demonstrate to the world that you guys can do that, and that Titan was a contraption.'"

The pair are planning a journey to the Titanic in a two-person submersible, which they named the Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer. The vessel, which is listed on the company's website for $20 million, can dive up to 4,000 meters — 200 meters deeper than the Titanic's site.

"Patrick has been thinking about and designing this for over a decade," Connor noted. "But we didn't have the materials and technology. You couldn't have built this sub five years ago."

The OceanGate implosion — which took the lives of Hamish Harding , Paul-Henri Nargeolet , Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood , as well as the company's CEO Stockton Rush — rattled the industry. But experts didn't see the company's problems as broader submersible problems.

Instead, Lahey took aim at Rush for his experimental designs and materials, such as carbon fiber, which was used in the Titan.

"He could even convince someone who knew and understood the risks," he told The Times in June, "it was really quite predatory."

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