The US government has been accused of mismanagement that delayed the delivery of vital equipment to the Titan search site.
A British company claimed its deployment of a rescue robot to find the submersible, which had been missing in the Atlantic Ocean, was hampered by red tape, despite a race against the clock.
On Thursday night, the US Coast Guard confirmed that a "catastrophic implosion" had led to the deaths of all on board Titan, which had been diving to the wreck of the Titanic.
Britons Hamish Harding, 58, Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son, Suleman, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a 77-year-old veteran French diver and Stockton Rush, 61, the founder of OceanGate, the vessel's operating company, were aboard.
The passengers had paid around $250,000 each for the excursion more than two miles under the ocean to visit the wreck of the liner, which sank in 1912.
Guernsey-based Magellan Ltd had a team of deepwater specialists waiting to leave an airport in the Channel Islands on Monday evening, but approval for take-off was only given by the US government on Thursday morning.
The Explorers Club, a group helping with the search, said Magellan's remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) had finally been assigned to a ship, the Atlantic Kestrel, in St John's, Newfoundland, on Thursday morning.
However, its launch was held up because the vessel needed to be "reflagged" - essentially having its national registration changed, according to the group.
Trevor Hale, one of the group working with the search operations, told The Telegraph: "There seems to be some issues getting a ship to transport it, and we're trying to help with that now."
The ROV has a "manipulator arm" that the group said could have proved "invaluable" for attaching to the sub. The Magellan has been to the Titanic site more than any other ROV and was recently involved in mapping the entire area, including the debris field.
The management of resources was "painful to see", the former boss of the company charged with preserving the Titanic wreckage said.
Bretton Hunchak, the former president of RMS Titanic Inc, told The Telegraph he had tried "to push to get the appropriate use of assets in place" and that the management of assets so far had been "painful to see".
The US Coast Guard defended itself against criticism. Asked why the British rescue robot was not dispatched sooner, Rear Admiral John Mauger told NBC: "We really had to start from scratch and bring all of the capability that was available to bear on this problem.
"And so we made some decisions to prioritise based on gear that was closest to the site and could get there."
The concerns over bureaucratic delays by US officials had been echoed by a former adviser to OceanGate. David Concannon said: "We have solutions and we are trying extremely hard to implement them.
"I hope to get a few hours of sleep, wake up and see very positive responses from the US government in my inbox. If I don't, the whole world will know the names of the people who did not do their jobs."
Earlier in the week, Mr Concannon claimed Magellan's ROV had been waiting "on the tarmac for hours".
News of the Titan implosion came after growing concerns over its experimental design and safety issues that had been raised against OceanGate, its operator.
On Thursday, a video emerged showing Mr Rush bragging that he had "broken some rules" in his quest to offer thrill-seekers a chance to witness the wreck of the Titanic at first hand.
"I'd like to be remembered as an innovator," he told a journalist for the TeleMundo network last year as he showed him around the Titan. "And you know, I've broken some rules to make this. I think I broke with logic and good engineering behind me. The carbon fibre and titanium, there's a rule you don't do that - well, I did."
Legal experts warned that OceanGate could face litigation from the relatives of the passengers amid concerns over the company's approach to safety.
Timothy Allen, a lawyer and former US Secret Service agent, said the firm could be found liable for the tragedy.
Passengers on Titan signed a lengthy waiver, which mentioned the risk of death multiple times, before their descent to the ocean floor. But Mr Allen said there were instances in which "waivers may be deemed unenforceable or invalid, especially if they involve gross negligence, intentional harm, or violations of public policy".
He added that if a waiver is deemed unenforceable "it typically means that the party seeking its protection cannot avoid liability for their actions or negligence".
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