TITANIC
‘Debris field’ found in search for Titan: what is a debris field and how close is it to the Titanic site?
The US Coast Guard reported on Thursday that a remotely operated vehicle had made the discovery.
As the search for the missing Titan submersible continues into a fifth day, the US Coast Guard has reported that a “debris field” has been located by a remotely operated vehicle. The discovery was made in the search area close to the Titanic, the sunken vessel that those on board the Titan were hoping to explore.
A tweet from the Coast Guard reads: “A debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic. Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information.”
Authorities are still investigating the discovering and will provide further information at a press conference scheduled for 3pm (ET) on Thursday. No further details have yet been given by the Coast Guard but hopes of a successful outcome have been dampened after the search effort passed the crucial 96-hour period (the point at which oxygen supplies were projected to run out) on Thursday morning.
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What is a debris field?
Investigators and search and rescue are still unclear as to exactly what happened to the OceanGate vessel that went missing last weekend. The voyage was supposed to take four tourists and the machine’s creator, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, to the wreckage of the Titanic.
It had been speculated that the submersible may have run out of electrical power, or become entangled in something in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.
However, if the debris field identified by the ROV is linked to the Titan mission, the situation could be very different.
Debris is the collection of pieces that are produced by the destruction of an object, often spread over a wide area due to the force of the incident. A debris field is the area about which the debris is spread.
The incredible pressure that the vessel would have been subjected to at the depths of the ocean could have caused an implosion and instantaneous destruction of the submersible
More on this breaking news story as it develops...