Follow live updates on the search and rescue mission for the lost OceanGate Expeditions submersible as Coast Guard gives press conference
A “debris field” near the Titanic was found Thursday in the search for the missing Titan submersible, according to the US Coast Guard.
The discovery came just after the expected deadline for remaining oxygen passed at 8am EDT (1pm UK time).
One rescue expert claimed to Sky News that the “landing frame and rear cover” from the missing sub were among the debris, citing a group text message from the president of the Explorers Club. A spokesperson for the club provided the full message to The Independent, in which its president Richard Garriott indicated the components may have been lost on “previous dives”.
CNN also viewed a Coast Guard memo which said the debris came from “the external body of the sub”.
Additional support for the international rescue effort, now in its fourth day, arrived Thursday morning to help the US Coast Guard in the search.
OceanGate Expeditions founder and CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman were on board the Titan.
The watercraft submerged on Sunday morning to travel to the Titanic wreckage. It lost contact with its surface ship about 105 minutes later.
