The U.S. Coast Guard announced Wednesday that it had discovered what it believes to be human remains amongst the wreckage of the Titan submersible.
More than a week after the vessel disappeared, officials obtained “debris and evidence” from the search site in the North Atlantic, according to a press release. U.S. medical professionals are set to analyze what have been presumed to be human remains recovered from the area.
Captain Jason Neubauer, chair of the Marine Board of Investigation (MBI), gave a statement expressing gratitude for the efforts of officials to recover this “vital evidence” from the ocean floor.
“The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of this tragedy,” said Neubauer. “There is still a substantial amount of work to be done to understand the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the TITAN and help ensure a similar tragedy does not occur again.”
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada also issued a statement, per CNN, saying that it  “will continue to cooperate with the United States, United Kingdom, and France, in accordance with international agreements, as they are ‘substantially interested states’ under the International Maritime Organization Casualty Investigation Code.”
On June 18, Hamish Harding, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Ocean Gate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood, and Suleman Dawood embarked in the submersible to explore the wreckage of the Titanic. The sub lost contact with its mother ship less than two hours after it was deployed, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Joint operations were conducted to rescue the occupants of the sub. However, debris discovered days later informed search and rescue personnel that a catastrophic incident had occurred, confirming what Navy sensors had detected.
The Coast Guard announced in a press conference four days later that it had discovered pieces of the sub in a search site near the wreckage of the Titanic and determined that the five people on board had been killed, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Officials said the sub was destroyed when ocean pressure caused a “catastrophic implosion.”Â
The MBI announced that it would continue to collect evidence and interview witnesses ahead of a public hearing into the loss of the Titan.
