TWISTED METAL
Mangled wreckage of doomed Titanic submarine is pictured being hauled from the Atlantic after five killed in implosion
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THE mangled wreckage of the doomed Titan sub was hauled ashore today after it imploded at the bottom of the Atlantic.
The debris was unloaded from the Horizon Arctic ship in St Johns, Newfoundland, Canada.
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About ten pieces were taken off the ship - including the porthole and a large panel.
The debris was quickly covered in large tarpaulins before being lifted by cranes onto lorries.
It comes ten days after the Titan sub vanished while on a dive to the Titanic wreck.
All five on board were killed after a "catastrophic implosion" near the bottom of the ocean just an hour and 45 minutes after it submerged in the North Atlantic.
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Dr Jasper Graham-Jones, Associate Professor in Mechanical & Marine Engineering at Plymouth University told The Sun investigators will search the salvaged carbon fibre for cracks.
Dr Graham-Jones explained: "Failure investigations start by collecting all available parts. It's critical to make sure you try and collect carefully so that no further damage is caused to collected parts."
Determining the cause of failure for the doomed sub could take up to six months due to the advanced technology involved, he said.
He explained: "They are looking for the timeline, of what happened and when.
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"Has there been excessive heating, or corrosion, or buckling?
"Distortion of joints and fittings?"
Experts said the victims, including three Brits — billionaire Hamish Harding, 55, businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son Suleman — would have died within milliseconds.
Also among the victims were 77-year-old French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet — known as Mr Titanic — and Stockton Rush, 61, the CEO of OceanGate, which operates the Titanic tours.
The search and rescue operation for Titan - spanning 10,000 square miles - was wound down after debris was found last Thursday.
The US Coast Guard said two debris fields found 1,600ft from the Titanic wreckage, which is 12,500ft beneath the ocean, included the ten-ton Titan’s nose cone and front and back ends of its pressure hull.
A deep-sea robot sub dropped onto the seabed by Horizon Arctic found the debris.
Rear Admiral John Mauger said the find was "consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber".
The chances of the men’s bodies being discovered are next to none.
Canada’s Transportation Safety Board said its investigation would take two years - and would focus on improving safety rather than at criminal or civil liability.
Search crews frantically searched for the vessel in the Atlantic after it lost communication on June 18 with just 96 hours of life support.
The sub failed to resurface later that afternoon - with its final "ping" to mothership Polar Prince placing the sub directly above the ruins.
But operators failed to notify the Coast Guard until 12.40pm BST (5.40 ET) - eight hours after contact was lost.
The search involved the world’s most advanced undersea search technology - including Canadian, US and French ships.
And RAF and USAF cargo planes flew a specialist ultra-deep sub to St John's Canada to aid the rescue effort.
It emerged that the navy had heard "an acoustic anomaly consistent with an implosion" just hours after the sub lost contact.
The top secret military system designed to spot enemy submarines reportedly detected the sound of the suspected implosion.
A US official said the information was given to the US Coast Guard team - who then apparently used it to narrow the search area.
Sounds of banging detected underwater had raised hopes of a last-gasp miracle - but experts now believe it was just the noises of other ships in the area.
An expert said just one tiny fault with the Titan sub could have led to the "catastrophic" implosion.
The sub's owner OceanGate confirmed the five crew were dead in a statement on Thursday afternoon.
"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," they said.
"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."
Hamish's devastated family shared a heartbreaking tribute to a "dedicated father" who "lived his life for his family, his business and for the next adventure".
And the family of British father and son Mr Dawood and Suleman - from one of Pakistan's richest families - also shared their heartache.
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Richard Garriott, president of adventure group The Explorers Club, said "our hearts are broken" by the loss of the five crew.
Experts said the families of those who died could sue OceanGate despite signing death waivers.
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