All five passengers on board missing Titanic sub believed dead

All five passengers on board the missing submersible that disappeared deep in the North Atlantic Ocean, sparking an international rescue effort, are believed to be dead, the company behind the launch says.

The Thursday afternoon (early Friday morning AEST) announcement appeared to confirm what many had feared even as ship after ship rushed to the huge and remote search area in the hope of saving the five people on board.

“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,” OceanGate said in a statement.

This photo provided by OceanGate Expeditions shows a submersible vessel named Titan used to visit the wreckage site of the Titanic. In a race against the clock on the high seas, an expanding international armada of ships and airplanes searched Tuesday, June 20, 2023, for the submersible that vanished in the North Atlantic while taking five people down to the wreck of the Titanic. (OceanGate Expeditions via AP) (AP)

“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans.

“Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.”

Hours earlier, the US Coast Guard announced a remote-operated vehicle (ROV) operating crawling the ocean floor had made a discovery.

“A debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic,” the Northeast District Coast Guard said on Twitter.

“Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information.”

The debris was assessed to be from the external body of the sub, according to a memo reviewed by CNN.

Before that, the mission passed the critical 96-hour mark when breathable air could have run out, a grim moment in the intense international effort to save the five people aboard.