The leader of the team which found the remains of the Titan submersible became emotional as he described how a rescue effort turned into a recovery operation.
Pelagic Research Services set out a timeline of its response to the Titan emergency in a news conference this evening.
“We were always conscious of the crew of the Titan,” Ed Cassano, CEO at the company, told the media, as he described its efforts to find the submersible.
“Plain and simple, we were focused on rescue,” he added.
However, when Pelagic’s deep-water remotely operated vehicle Odysseus 6K arrived at the site of the Titanic wreck 90 minutes after its launch, hopes of a rescue did not last long, Mr Cassano explained.
“Shortly after arriving on the seafloor, we discovered the debris of the Titan submersible…by 12 o’clock, a rescue turned into a recovery,” he said.
Choking back tears while speaking to reporters, Mr Cassano apologised and said the team were processing “a lot of emotions”.
He asked everyone to recognise the “seriousness of the event” and to “respect the range of emotions” felt by those involved. Mr Cassano said his team were the “primary asset” to “effect rescue” as part of a fleet of ships.
Image: (Clockwise from top left) Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Stockton Rush, Hamish Harding, Suleman Dawood and Shahzada Dawood
He said: “Our plan of rescue was to – immediately upon finding Titan – to latch onto her as quickly as possible and begin recovery.”
Apparently overwhelmed by the tragedy, he added: “It was wild…”
The US Coast Guard revealed on Thursday that presumed human remains had been recovered after debris from the craft was brought ashore.
The nature and extent of the possible remains recovered from the site were not specified.
The five men on board the OceanGate submersible were killed after Titan, which is believed to have suffered a catastrophic implosion, was on its voyage to the wreck of the Titanic.
The 21ft vessel is believed to have imploded on 18 June as it made its descent, with debris located about 12,500ft underwater and roughly 1,600ft from the Titanic on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.
British father and 19-year-old son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood were killed on board the vessel, along with British billionaire Hamish Harding.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
1:08
Questions remain about Titan’s safety issues
Two other people on board – OceanGate Expeditions’ chief executive, Stockton Rush, and French sub pilot Paul-Henri Nargeolet – also died.
The implosion of the Titan has raised questions about the safety of private undersea exploration operations.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police previously said they are looking into the five deaths.
Meanwhile, safety investigators from the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada made inquiries on Titan’s main support ship, the Polar Prince, after it docked in St John’s harbour on Saturday.
Image: Debris from the sub unloaded from the ship Horizon Arctic in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Pic: The Canadian Press /AP
An extensive search and rescue operation – involving vessels on the water, aircraft and remotely operated vehicles (ROVS) underwater – was launched after Titan lost communication with the Polar Prince, an hour and 45 minutes into the two-hour descent to the wreckage on 18 June.
The vessel was reported missing eight hours after communication was lost.
The rescue mission ended five days later when pieces of debris were found about 487m from the Titanic wreckage.
Labour MP Dan Norris has been arrested on suspicion of rape and child sex offences.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Dan Norris MP was immediately suspended by the Labour Party upon being informed of his arrest.
“We cannot comment further while the police investigation is ongoing.”
Police said a man in his 60s had been arrested on Friday on suspicion of sexual offences against a girl, rape, child abduction and misconduct in a public office.
Sky News has contacted Mr Norris for comment.
Mr Norris, 65, defeated Jacob Rees-Mogg to win the new seat of North East Somerset and Hanham in last year’s general election.
He has also lost the party whip in the House of Commons and has stepped down from his role as chair of the League Against Cruel Sports.
Avon and Somerset Police said in a statement: “In December 2024, we received a referral from another police force relating to alleged non-recent child sex offences having been committed against a girl.
“Most of the offences are alleged to have occurred in the 2000s, but we’re also investigating an alleged offence of rape from the 2020s.
“An investigation, led by officers within Operation Bluestone, our dedicated rape and serious sexual assault investigation team, remains ongoing and at an early stage.
“The victim is being supported and given access to any specialist help or support she needs.
“A man, aged in his 60s, was arrested on Friday (April 4) on suspicion of sexual offences against a girl (under the Sexual Offences Act 1956), rape (under the Sexual Offences Act 2003), child abduction and misconduct in a public office. He’s been released on conditional bail for enquiries to continue.
“This is an active and sensitive investigation, so we’d respectfully ask people not to speculate on the circumstances so our enquiries can continue unhindered.”
Mr Norris first entered Parliament when Tony Blair came to power in 1997 and served as the Wansdyke MP until 2010.
He was an assistant whip under Mr Blair and served as a junior minister under Gordon Brown.
Mr Norris has also been West of England mayor since 2021 but is due to step down ahead of May’s local elections.
A spokesman for the League Against Cruel Sports, a UK-based animal welfare charity which campaigns to end sports such as fox hunting and game bird shooting, confirmed he had stepped down from his role.
“The charity cannot comment further while an investigation is ongoing,” a statement said.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has said it will “pause” shipments to the US as the British car firm works to “address the new trading terms” of Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The US president has introduced a 25% levy on all foreign cars imported into the country, which came into force on Thursday.
JLR, one of the country’s biggest carmakers, exported about 38,000 cars to the US in the third quarter of 2024 – almost equal to the amount sold to the UK and the EU combined.
In a statement on Saturday, a spokesperson for the company behind the Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover brands said: “The USA is an important market for JLR’s luxury brands.
“As we work to address the new trading terms with our business partners, we are taking some short-term actions including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid- to longer-term plans.”
The company released a statement last week before Mr Trump announced a “baseline” 10% tariff on goods from around the world, which kicked in on Saturday morning, on what he called “liberation day”.
More on Donald Trump
Related Topics:
JLR reassured customers its business was “resilient” and “accustomed to changing market conditions”.
“Our priorities now are delivering for our clients around the world and addressing these new US trading terms,” the firm said.
Trading across the world has been hit by Mr Trump’s tariff announcement at the White House on Wednesday.
All but one stock on the FTSE 100 fell on Friday – with Rolls-Royce, banks and miners among those to suffer the sharpest losses.
Cars are the top product exported from the UK to the US, with exports worth £8.3bn in the year to the end of September 2024, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
For UK carmakers, the US is the second largest export market behind the European Union.
Industry groups have previously warned the tariffs will force firms to rethink where they trade, while a report by thinktank the Institute for Public Policy Research said more than 25,000 car manufacturing jobs in the UK could be at risk.
Two people have died following a fire at a caravan site near Skegness, Lincolnshire Police have said.
In a statement, officers said they were called at 3.53am on Saturday to a report of a blaze at Golden Beach Holiday Park in the village of Ingoldmells.
Fire and rescue crews attended the scene, and two people were found to have died.
They were reported to be a 10-year-old girl and a 48-year-old man.
The force said the victims’ next of kin have been informed and will be supported by specially trained officers.
Officers are trying to establish the exact cause of the blaze.
“We are at the very early stages of our investigation and as such we are keeping an open mind,” the force said.