LIVE - Updated at 06:37
US Navy detected an 'anomaly' on Sunday and passed data to Coast Guard, according to multiple reports; five on board missing submersible remembered as 'true explorers'.
Mike Reiss, a writer for "The Simpsons" television show who went on a Titanic expedition with OceanGate in 2022 has recalled how his waiver said he would be "subject to extreme pressure. And any failure of the vessel could cause severe injury or death."
Speaking by memory Reiss recalled the terms said:
I will be exposed to risks associated with high pressure gases, pure oxygen, high voltage systems which could lead to injury, disability and death. If I am injured, I may not receive immediate medical attention.
The comments come amid speculation of the legal fall out from the incident and calls for more regulation of the industry.
- AP
Hello and welcome to the Guardian's live coverage of the fate of the Titan submersible vessel that went missing during a dive down to the Titanic with five people onboard.
On Thursday the US Coast Guard confirmed the Titan suffered a "catastrophic implosion", killing all onboard, and there are multiple reports that the US Navy picked up an underwater "anomaly" on its sensors that was probably the sound of that implosion, before any search equipment had been deployed. The navy passed that information to the Coast Guard, which continued its search because the navy did not consider the data to be definitive.
Filmmaker and deep-sea exploration veteran James Cameron said his sources reported similar information on Monday.
"We got confirmation within an hour that there had been a loud bang at the same time that the sub comms were lost. A loud bang on the hydrophone. Loss of transponder. Loss of comms. I knew what happened. The sub imploded," Cameron told Reuters.
He said that he told colleagues in an email on Monday, "We've lost some friends," and, "It's on the bottom in pieces right now."
Meanwhile, tributes have been paid to those aboard the submersible: British adventurer Hamish Harding, 58; French veteran Titanic explorer Paul Henri Nargeoloet, 77; British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son Suleman; and 61-year-old American Stockton Rush, co-founder of OceanGate, the company that operated the lost sub.
The White House said the loved ones of the five men had endured a "harrowing ordeal" over the past week.
"Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives on the Titan," it said in a statement. "They have been through a harrowing ordeal over the past few days, and we are keeping them in our thoughts and prayers."
The family of Harding remembered a "dedicated father" who was "a guide, an inspiration, a support and a living legend" following the news of his death.
The friends and family of those killed also thanked those engaged in the search and paid respect to their loved ones. The families of the Dawoods said they were overwhelmed by the support they have received; Nargeoloet's son remembered him as a larger than life figure and an aviation company operated by Harding's family described him as a "larger than life figure".
Officials have not confirmed whether they will be able to recover the bodies of the crew members but the Coast Guard is keeping some vessels in place to gather evidence while other personnel will be demobilised over the next 24 hours.
The loss of the Titan submersible has raised questions about the regulation of deep-sea exploration.
Salvatore Mercogliano, a history professor at Campbell University in North Carolina who focuses on maritime history and policy compared deep-water operations as "akin to where aviation was in the early 20th century."
Aviation was in its infancy - and it took accidents for decisions to be made to be put into laws. There'll be a time when you won't think twice about getting on a submersible and going down 13,000 feet. But we're not there yet.
Aviation was in its infancy - and it took accidents for decisions to be made to be put into laws.
There'll be a time when you won't think twice about getting on a submersible and going down 13,000 feet. But we're not there yet.
Mercogliano said such operations are scrutinized less than the companies that launch people into space. In the Titan's case, that's in part because it operated in international waters, far from the reach of many laws of the United States or other nations.
The Titan wasn't registered as a U.S. vessel or with international agencies that regulate safety, Mercogliano added. Nor was it classified by a maritime industry group that sets standards on matters such as hull construction.
Stockton Rush, the OceanGate CEO who died on Titan, previously said he thought regulation worked to impede innovation writing in a blog post on his company's website that:.
Bringing an outside entity up to speed on every innovation before it is put into real-world testing is anathema to rapid innovation.
- AP