A new photo has been released which shows the Titanic submersible Titan’s final resting spot after the underwater craft imploded, killing all five of its passengers in June 2023.
During the U.S. Coast Guard hearing on Monday into the cause of the implosion of the OceanGate vessel, officials revealed a photo that shows the submersible on the bottom of the ocean floor in the North Atlantic Ocean, following its final dive to see the remains of the Titanic on June 18, 2023, People magazine reported.
The image shows the underwater craft with its tail cone embedded into the sea floor. The photo was taken by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), called the Pelagic Research Services 6000, which made the discovery some 12,000 feet below the surface.
🚨#BREAKING: Newly released images have just revealed the wreckage of the OceanGate Titan submersible resting on the seabed, just 1,600 feet from the Titanic’s bow. The submersible tragically imploded in June 2023, killing all five onboard. pic.twitter.com/Zt0xcx7dIp
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) September 16, 2024
Officials said during the hearing that the new photo has led to the “conclusive evidence of a catastrophic loss” of the submersible and the passengers on board.
Also revealed during the hearing was the final messages from the doomed submersible Titan, with the crew messaging “all good here” only minutes before all contact was lost forever, as previously reported.
Text messages between Titan and the support ship, the Polar Prince, start after the vessel left the ship around 9:20 a.m. off the coast of Canada. After about 40 minutes, routine messages between the two took a turn with the Polar Prince asking numerous times if the submersible could see the ship on its display. When there was no response, the ship started sending urgent messages.
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After about 15 minutes, Titan responded that it had communication, and the Polar Prince replied, “I need better comms from you.”
Titan, in turn, responded, “yes,” and said they “lost system oand [sic] chat settings.”
At 10:15 a.m., the Polar Prince asked again, “status? do you see polar prince on your display?” Titan responded soon after, “yes,” and, “all good here.”
Minutes later, Titan notified the Polar Prince that they were “east south east [of] the nbow [sic],” which officials suspected meant the crew had almost reached their destination, the wreckage of the Titanic.
Titan then asked the Polar Prince if they were also at the bow, and Polar Prince said, “making our way there … your position jumps significantly each ping” — which the ship repeated to the Titan at 10:36.
At 10:47, Titan messaged that they “dropped two [weights],” and contact was then lost almost immediately, at 10:47:32 a.m., according to the Coast Guard. That was at a depth of nearly 3,350 meters and a pressure of 4,900 pounds per square inch, the magazine noted.
After the ship lost contact with Titan, a four-day rescue mission from the United States and Canada ensued including using airplanes, boats, and submersibles in the attempt to find and save the crew, Variety noted.
On the fourth day, the United States Coast Guard announced that an ROV had found debris from the Titan near the Titanic.
Related: Final Message From Doomed Titanic Submersible Revealed
