Families Mourn Passengers Killed In Titanic Sub Implosion

Tributes are flowing as families mourn the five men killed on board the titan sub in what US officials say was a “catastrophic implosion”.

The victims were Hamish Harding, 58, Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his Son Suleman Dawood, 19, paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, and Stockton Rush, 61.

Their families have expressed “profound grief” and paid tribute to their exploration endeavours.

A robotic diving vehicle found major fragments of the sub on the seafloor about 1,600 feet from the titanic shipwreck on Thursday.

It’s emerged the us navy originally detected “an acoustic anomaly consistent with an implosion” shortly after the titan lost contact on Sunday.

James cameron, director of the 1997 titanic film who has completed 33 dives to the wreck, said he suspected a disaster after the sub went missing.

The sombre find ends a multinational five-day search which spanned more than 20,000 square kilometre of ocean.

Remains of the submersible, which lost contact with a surface ship about 1 hour and 45 minutes into a 2-hour descent,

were discovered on the seabed about 1,600 feet (488 meters) from the bow of Titanic wreck, about 2-1/2 miles (4 km) below the surface , U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said.

However, he told reporters on Thursday the debris was consistent with “a catastrophic implosion of the vehicle.”

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The five who died included Stockton Rush, U.S. founder and chief executive officer of OceanGate Expeditions, which operated the submersible and charged $250,000 per person to make the Titanic trip. He was piloting the craft.

The others were British billionaire and explorer Hamish Harding, 58; Pakistani-born businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son, Suleman, both British citizens; and French oceanographer and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77.

“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” OceanGate said.

A statement issued by the British Asian Trust on behalf of the Dawood family read: “We mourn the tragic loss of Shahzada and his beloved son,

Suleman, who had embarked on a journey to visit the remnants of the legendary Titanic.”

The University of Strathclyde in Scotland, where Suleman Dawood studied, also issued a statement of condolence.

British Titanic explorer Dik Barton paid tribute to the work of his friend Nargeolet but noted issues raised with the design and maintenance of the craft.

“Everyone’s wise after the event, but as we’re hearing before, unfortunately there were many red flags flying here,” he said.