RCMP, Research Council for Transport Safety starts investigation into Titan Sub Tragedy
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) will conduct a preliminary investigation into the deaths of five passengers aboard the Titanic submarine, while the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is also investigating the events leading up to what officials thinking was the submarine that imploded on June 18.
“There is no suspicion of criminal activity as such, but the RCMP is taking initial steps to assess whether or not we will go down that path,” RCMP Superintendent Kent Osmond of Newfoundland and Labrador said at a news conference on June 24.
Officials believe the Titan imploded after losing Contact an hour and about 45 minutes into its descent to the Titanic shipwreck. The submarine was believed to be nearly four kilometers below the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean when it stopped communicating with its launch ship.
After search and rescue crews found five large pieces of debris and wreckage of the submarine on June 22, the passengers on board were presumed dead. The company’s CEO, Stockton Rush, piloted the Titan, with passengers including British billionaire Hamish Harding, French explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet, and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood.
Officials now suggest that an instantaneous implosion caused the submarine to burst apart under the sea.
The US Navy said on June 22 that it had detected “an anomaly consistent with an implosion” with acoustic sensors the day the submarine went missing. The US Navy has listening devices deep in the ocean to detect hostile foreign submarines.
Multiple countries
The US Coast Guard and US officials are also taking their own action research with robotic vehicles mapping the debris field, and plans are being made for debris recovery.
Osmond said the RCMP is not involved in regulation, ship certification, transportation or safety. “Our mandate is to look at the dead and determine if anything contributed to their deaths that could lead us down a criminal path,” he said.
The RCMP has set up a team of investigators “for the sole purpose of answering the question of whether or not a full investigation by the RCMP is warranted,” he said. No timeline was provided for the initial assessment.
He said an investigation would continue if an investigation of the circumstances found criminal, federal or provincial laws had been violated, and that it would have been “inappropriate” to launch an investigation while search and recovery efforts were active . Civil negligence would not fall within the jurisdiction of the RCMP.
“Following the U.S. Coast Guard’s announcement earlier this week that debris from the submarine had been found and all five on board were presumed dead, we will now look at the circumstances leading up to those deaths,” Osmond said.
The Titan’s mothership, the Polar Prince, which launched the submarine, returned to shore on June 25, an estimated 700 kilometers from where searchers found wreckage. The Polar Prince is a former Canadian Coast Guard vessel property by the Miawpukek First Nation and is launched from St. John’s, Newfoundland.
“Our hearts go out to those on board, especially all family members who have lost loved ones,” TSB chief Kathy Fox said at a news conference.
There were 17 crew members and 24 people aboard the Polar Prince when the Titan headed for the Titanic shipwreck with its five passengers, and TSB officials will speak to all of them.
The wreck is located about 700 kilometers southeast of Newfoundland in international waters and takes about two hours for the submarine to reach it.
“We are conducting a safety investigation in Canada as this was a Canadian flag vessel departing from a Canadian port and was involved in this incident albeit in international waters,” Fox said. said. The main purpose of a TSB investigation is to investigate safety issues and make recommendations to prevent a similar occurrence in the future.
Fox said investigations typically last 18 months to two years. The submarine has a voyage data recorder with audio, which will also be reviewed by officials.
The owner of the Titan, OceanGate Expeditions, is an American company. The submarine itself was registered in the Bahamas. The passengers who died on board were from England, France, Pakistan and the United States. There could be involvement from other countries, with Fox noting that the International Maritime Code contains provisions that allow cooperation with other investigative bodies.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
