Follow the latest news on the missing Titanic sub here
The lives of the five aboard the Titan submersible have “sadly been lost”, the vessel's owner said on Thursday, after debris matching the missing vessel was found on the ocean floor.
The submersible lost contact with the surface with four passengers and a pilot aboard.
Here are some facts about the Titan:
– OceanGate Expeditions says it designed Titan to carry up to five people to a depth of 4,000 metres. The wreckage of the cruise ship Titanic sits on the ocean floor about 3,800 metres below the surface.
– Titan weighed 9,525kg and can travel at a speed of 3 knots, or 5.5kph, using electric thrusters. OceanGate says it was equipped with powerful LED lights, a sonar navigation system and high-end camera equipment. It had a single porthole.
– OceanGate says Titan had a life-support system that could keep five people alive for up to 96 hours.
– Titan's carbon-fibre walls were 13cm thick and the vessel was capped at each end with titanium domes, according to David Pogue, a CBS News journalist who travelled on Titan last year. He had to sign a liability waiver describing the vessel as “experimental” and acknowledging a risk of injury or death.
– Once passengers were inside, the hatch was bolted shut. Passengers generally sat on the floor, leaning their backs against a curved wall. There was a rudimentary toilet aboard.
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– It was launched from a small platform that could be carried out to sea aboard a commercial ship and submerged a few dozen metres below the surface.
– The vehicle was operated using a video-game controller, according to media reports. OceanGate workers on the surface ship tracked the location of Titan and sent text messages to the pilot with navigation instructions.
