Owners of the missing Titan submersible OceanGate, has reported that they believe the crew of the vessel have sadly been lost.
“We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost,” the company said in a statement.
The statement reads in full, “The entire OceanGate family is deeply grateful for the countless men and women from multiple organisations of the international community who expedited wide-ranging resources and have worked so very hard on this mission.
“We appreciate their commitment to finding these five explorers, and their days and nights of tireless work in support of our crew and their families.
“This is a very sad time for the entire explorer community, and for each of the family members of those lost at sea.
“We respectfully ask that the privacy of these families be respected during this most painful time.”
This comes as the US Coast Guard confirmed the debris found belonged to the missing sub.
According to Mirror, a spokesperson of the US coast guard said the debris field was 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic.
PUNCH METRO reported that the submersible disappeared less than two hours after it submerged Sunday afternoon.
Along with Rush, who served as the vessel’s pilot, the missing include British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani tech and energy mogul Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Sulaiman, and famed Titanic explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet
