First image of ill-fated Titan submersible wreckage revealed at hearing into tragedy

The first image of the Titan submersible sitting at the bottom of the ocean following its catastrophic implosion last year was shared by the US Coast Guard on Monday as investigators opened a hearing into the tragedy.

The first image of the Titan submersible sitting at the bottom of the ocean following its catastrophic implosion last year was shared by the US Coast Guard on Monday as investigators opened a hearing into the tragedy. All five people on board the vessel were killed last June in its final ill-fated dive to the Titanic shipwreck, after a desperate search mission that gripped the world. In the photo released Monday, the submersible’s broken tail cone is seen on the hazy blue floor of the North Atlantic Ocean. The tail cone was severed from the rest of the vessel, its edges ragged, while a ripped fragment of the vessel is seen nearby. The wreckage was found several hundred yards from the location of the Titanic after days of searching, according to investigators at the hearing in North Charleston, South Carolina, which is expected to run until September 27. In its opening presentation, the Marine Board of Investigation said the tail cone and other debris were located by a remotely operated vehicle on June 22 last year, providing “conclusive evidence” the submersible experienced a catastrophic implosion – a sudden inward collapse caused by immense pressure. It claimed the lives of Stockton Rush, the founder and CEO of the vessel’s operator; businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood; adventurer Hamish Harding; and French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet.