OceanGate, the diving company responsible for the Titanic tour trip has said all passengers aboard Titan, the submersible are believed to be dead.
The company made the announcement in a statement on Thursday evening after debris believed to be from Titan was found near the Titanic by rescue teams.
“We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost,” the company said in a statement on Thursday.
The confirmation comes a few hours after a “debris field” was discovered by an underwater robot searching near the wreck of the Titanic for the missing submersible.
The development came after rescuers insisted that the multinational mission to locate the craft was still focused on finding the crew alive despite fears that the vessel’s oxygen may have run out.
“Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information,” the US Coast Guard said in a tweet.
The coast guard said the debris field was found “within the search area by an ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) near the Titanic.”
It did not give more details but said it would hold a press briefing in Boston later on Thursday.
