Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Christopher Bucktin

Imploded Titanic submarine debris to be pieced together 'like jigsaw' by Brit officials

British investigators have set to work examining debris from the Titanic tourist submersible after it was brought ashore.

Huge chunks of fragmented metal were today unloaded from the Horizon Arctic, the support vessel that discovered the wreckage last week.

The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch has been brought in to probe the death of the Titanic tourists who died as they ventured down to the wreck of the infamous RMS Titanic on June 17.

They were brought in by US and Canadian authorities to add their expertise to the probe that saw five men - including three Brits - perish in the tragedy.

Once the Horizon Arctic had docked, the debris was quickly covered in large tarpaulins before being lifted by cranes onto waiting trucks.

Debris from the Titan submersible is unloaded from the ship Horizon Arctic (AP)

The pieces included a large, white section of curved metal appearing to show the outer casing of the 21-ft Titan submersible.

Another piece showed cables, the vessel’s onboard computers and other mechanical parts.

A large circular part of the Titan, which appeared to be the dome-shaped front section, was also retrieved.

A coastguard source from St John’s in Newfoundland, from where the ill-fated adventurers set off on June 16, told the Mirror the debris will now be pieced back together.

The debris is as the Canadian Coast Guard pier in St John's, Newoundland (Canadian Press/REX/Shutterstock)

He said: “To gain the greatest understanding of the implosion, investigators will now forensically piece together the Titan as best they can.

“But rebuilding it like a jigsaw provides them with the greatest amount of information about just how the submersible failed.”

Captain Jason Neubauer of the US Coast Guard, who is chairing the investigation, said the British agency was working “in close coordination” with its North American counterparts.

It was recovered from the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic (AP)

He said investigators looking into the implosion of the Titan submersible are “taking all precautions” in case they find bodies on thesea floor.

The Horizon Arctic returned to St John’s eleven days after the Titan went missing some 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.

The ship was carrying the Odysseus, a remote-operated vehicle that ended the rescue mission when it spotted debris on the ocean floor some 200 metres away from the hull of the Titanic.

Titan submersible passengers (L-R, top to bottom) Hamish Harding, CEO Stockton Rush, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood (Dirty Dozen Productions/OceanGat)

“Our team has successfully completed off-shore operations but is still on a mission and will be in the process of demobilisation from the Horizon Arctic this morning,” said a spokesperson from Pelagic Research, the Boston company that owns the Odysseus ROV.

“They have been working around the clock now for ten days, through the physical and mental challenges of this operation, and are anxious to finish the mission and return to their loved ones.”

How the submersible looked before the disaster (PA)

Investigators were yesterday seen boarding the Horizon Arctic on its arrival.

Minutes after the ship docked on the south side of the harbour, teams began their work.

As well as the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch Transportation, investigators from the US and Canada, as well as both country’s coast guards and local police, are now probing the incident.

Brit investigators will piece it together (Canadian Press/REX/Shutterstock)

On its 12,500ft descent in the Atlantic Ocean, the submersible suffered a “catastrophic implosion”, killing Brit Suleman Dawood, 19, and his father Shahzada Dawood, 48.

British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, 58, French underwater explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, and OceanGate founder Stockton Rush, 61, also perished.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.