Five ‘major pieces’ of debris give clues to the fate of the Titan submersible

Finds on sea floor are ‘consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel’.

Five “major pieces” of debris from the Titan submersible have been recovered, the US Coast Guard said.

They include part of the pressure chamber, the nose cone, the front-end bell and the aft-end bell, a press conference held in Boston on Thursday was told.

A remotely operated vehicle (ROV) found debris fields on the North Atlantic Ocean sea floor around 1,600ft from the bow of the Titanic on Thursday morning.

Rear admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard said the debris is “consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel”.

Follow the latest updates on the missing Titanic submarine here.

“This is an incredibly complex operating environment on the sea floor over two miles beneath the surface,” he said.

Undersea expert Paul Hankin said: “We found five different major pieces of debris that told us that it was the remains of the Titan.

“The initial thing we found was the nose cone which was outside of the pressure hull.

“We then found a large debris field.

“Within that large debris field we found the front-end bell of the pressure hull. That was the first indication that there was a catastrophic event.

“Shortly thereafter we found a second smaller debris field. Within that debris field we found the other end of the pressure hull – the aft end bell – which basically comprises the totality of that pressure vessel.

“We continue to map out the debris field, and as the admiral said, we will do the best we can to fully map out what’s down there.”

The coastguard said the ROV that made the discovery was from the Canadian Horizon Arctic ship.