The hope of finding five men who went missing on Sunday on a mission to view the Titanic wreck ended last night as debris from the Titan submersible was found on the ocean floor after a “catastrophic implosion”. The multinational search mission captured the world’s attention this week as rescuers who hoped the Titan could still be intact raced to find it before oxygen supplies ran out – with “banging” noises reported on Wednesday. Those noises now appear unrelated to the Titan; a US Navy official said underwater sensors had picked up readings consistent with a possible implosion shortly after the submersible lost contact on Sunday, but did not consider them definitive, the WSJ reported. Those onboard are believed to have died instantly: Stockton Rush, 61, the chief executive of OceanGate Expeditions that operated the Titan; British explorer Hamish Harding; French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and Pakistani-British businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, 19.
Photograph U.S. Coast Guard via Getty Images