Missing Titanic submersible live updates: Texts show OceanGate CEO dismissed concerns
Five people, including the company CEO, were aboard the sub when it imploded.
All passengers are believed to be lost after a desperate dayslong search for a submersible carrying five people that vanished while on a tour of the Titanic wreckage off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
The 21-foot deep-sea vessel, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, lost contact about an hour and 45 minutes after submerging on Sunday morning with a 96-hour oxygen supply. That amount of breathable air was forecast to run out on Thursday morning, according to the United States Coast Guard, which was coordinating the multinational search and rescue efforts.
Latest headlines:
- RCMP to investigate the deaths aboard Titan sub
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- OceanGate CEO claimed sub was safer than scuba diving, texts show
- OceanGate co-founder defends development of submersible
- Sub's carbon-fiber composite hull was the 'critical failure,' James Cameron says
- Probe seeks answers on why Titanic sub imploded
- Navy likely detected sound of the implosion on Sunday: Official
- All lives believed to be lost: OceanGate
James Cameron reacts to implosion: 'Quite surreal'
"Titanic" director James Cameron, who has explored the wreckage site himself, called the implosion "quite surreal" and noted that one of the passengers killed, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, was a friend of his.
"For him to have died tragically in this way is almost impossible for me to process," Cameron told ABC News Thursday.
Debris consistent with 'catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber'
Coast Guard officials said a remote-operated vehicle found the tail cone of the Titan submersible about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic Thursday morning.
Additional debris found was "consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber," Rear Adm. John Mauger, the First Coast Guard District commander, said during a press briefing.
The passengers' families were immediately notified.
Five major pieces of debris were found, including the nose cone, officials said.
The debris indicates there was a "catastrophic implosion" of the vessel, Mauger said.
It's too early to tell when the implosion occurred, officials said.
"This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the seafloor," Mauger said.
All lives believed to be lost: OceanGate
All five aboard the missing submersible are believed to be lost amid a search for the vessel, OceanGate said.
"We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost," OceanGate said in a statement.
"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 statement continued. "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."
Canadian assets on scene for assistance
A Royal Canadian Navy ship HMCS Glace Bay has been on scene since about 8 a.m. ET Thursday morning. The ship provides a medical team specializing in dive medicine and a six-person mobile hyperbaric recompression chamber, according to officials.
Canadian Coast Guard ships John Cabot, Ann Harvey and Terry Fox are on scene and ready to provide rescue equipment and personnel should assistance be required. A Royal Canadian Air Force CP-140 Aurora aircraft is also maintaining continuous on-scene support with additional aircrews and assets, according to officials.
-ABC News' Luke Barr
Canadian ROV begins search on sea floor
The U.S. Coast Guard announced via Twitter early Thursday that a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) deployed by the Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic has reached the sea floor, beginning its search for the missing submersible.
Meanwhile, the French vessel L'Atalante is preparing its ROV to enter the water in the search area, the U.S. Coast Guard said.