The Navy last week detected the sound of an underwater implosion around the same time the Titan submersible went missing, the service confirmed on Thursday.
The update came just hours after OceansGate, the company responsible for the vessel, released a statement saying it believed the five passengers that went missing less than two hours into their journey Sunday to be dead.
The Navy "conducted an analysis of acoustic data and detected an anomaly consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general vicinity of where the TITAN submersible was operating when communications were lost," a senior Navy official told The Hill. "While not definitive, this information was immediately shared with the Incident Commander to assist with the ongoing search and rescue mission."
"The information was considered with the compilation of additional acoustic data provided by other partners and the decision was made to continue our mission as a search and rescue and make every effort to save the lives on board," the official added.
On Wednesday, U.S. Coast Guard officials reported underwater banging noises picked up by a Canadian reconnaissance aircraft during the search for the missing submersible, but said it was "difficult to discern" the source of the noise.
The search and rescue operation continued until Thursday afternoon, when the Coast Guard confirmed that a debris field discovered earlier that day within the search area was "consistent with catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber."
Rear Adm. John Mauger, First Coast Guard District commander, said remotely controlled vehicles will remain on the scene to gather additional information about the debris, and that there is no timeline for when personnel and vessels would stop remote operations on the seafloor.
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