The US Coast Guard reported Wednesday that “presumed human remains” were among the debris and evidence retrieved from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean where the Titan submersible’s wreckage were discovered.
The collected debris is now being sent to a US port, where a formal examination will be carried out by medical experts at the Marine Board of Investigation. The Coast Guard stated that the evidence would be later presented by the board at an upcoming public hearing with an undetermined date.
The information was released a few hours after the Titan wreckage, which is thought to have imploded on June 18, had reached St. John’s, Newfoundland, after being retrieved from the North Atlantic bottom more than 12,000 feet below sea level.
The examination of the debris is likely to provide additional insight on the cause of the tragic implosion that supposedly wrecked the Titan as the 22-foot craft was transporting five persons on a mission to the Titanic shipwreck in the North Atlantic.
On Wednesday morning, footage from the Canadian Broadcast Corp. showed what seemed to be the submersible’s nose as well as other broken pieces being hoisted by a crane off the deck of the Horizon Arctic. At St. John’s, where the mission to the Titanic had started, footage also showed a smashed section of the Titan’s hull and machinery with dangling cables being removed off the ship.
Fragments of the submersible, which had lost touch with Polar Prince approximately one hour and 45 minutes into a two-hour descend on June 18, were discovered littering the seabed about 1,600 feet (488 meters) from the bow of the Titanic wreck four days later.
