Throughout this week, the world has kept its eyes on updates about a deep-sea submersible operated by OceanGate Expeditions, which took off on a tour to view the underwater wreckage site of the Titanic with five people on board.
The vessel, dubbed the Titan, went missing Sunday, and every available resource was deployed by the US Coast Guard in an effort to find it.
...and a press conference was subsequently held this afternoon. Here are all the key takeaways to come from it:
1. First Coast Guard District Cmdr. Rear Adm. John Mauger confirmed that debris found near the bow of the Titanic wreckage was "consistent with catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber" — referring to the Titan.
3. Experts were able to find and classify five major pieces of debris from the Titan, including the nose cone, the front end bell of the pressure hull, the tail cone, and other pieces they are continuing to map out.
4. When asked about recovering the bodies of those on board, 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."
5. The location of the Titan was about 1,600 feet from the Titanic wreckage site. And according to an expert involved, they do not expect to find out that the submersible collided with the Titanic. "It's in an area where there is not any degree of Titanic. It's a smooth bottom ... there's no Titanic wreckage in that area," the expert said. "The size of the debris field is consistent with that implosion in the water column."
6. It is currently unclear whether the Titan imploded when the submersible first lost contact with its mother ship. However, Mauger did say that there has been no sign of an implosion since sonar buoys were placed in the water during search efforts.
Officials say they are still working to develop the details of the timeline, and they will update the public when they know more.
