EAST AURORA, N.Y. — After a search that's lasted several days with worldwide attention, the U.S. Coast Guard announced Thursday afternoon that the missing submersible in the Atlantic Ocean suffered a catastrophic implosion and that all five passengers are presumed dead.
That comes after a deep sea unmanned vessel that was built, owned, and operated by an East Aurora company actually found a debris field not far from the Titanic where it was headed. That included pieces of the missing sub known as Titan.
Odysseus 6K is a very sophisticated ocean floor explorer. The remotely piloted craft, which can dive down to 19,000 feet, belongs to the Pelagic Research Services firm. With a crew of nine technicians in a transportable control room, they were involved in searching the sea floor of the North Atlantic.
The grim discovery came Thursday morning as the Odysseus and its operators found debris from the Titan submersible. The U.S. Coast Guard said it had imploded from the water pressure at 12,000 feet below the surface, near the bow of the Titanic wreckage.
Coast Rear Admiral John Mauger told reporters: "The equipment that was brought on site this morning that we were using was a Pelagic ROV capable of operating at 6,000 meters; cameras, sonar, other articulating arms, and resources on it. And we had to transport it here through C-17 aircraft. That is two aircraft that it took to get this up here."
In fact, that was the scene on Tuesday afternoon at Buffalo Niagara International Airport, with Pelagic containers carrying the Odysseus and other gear being loaded aboard those Air Force Cargo jets.
That flight took them from Buffalo with the jet-powered planes carrying this crucial cargo up to St. John's, Newfoundland, which was the staging base for the search out at sea.
It was then transported by a specialized Canadian exploration ship, the Horizon Arctic, and they arrived early Thursday to begin search operations.
A Pelagic Research Studies spokesman told 2 On Your Side us that Edward Cassano of East Aurora, who is the CEO and builder of the Odysseus, was given oversight control of the search effort aboard the Horizon Arctic.
Their involvement in this search effort to resolve this sea floor tragedy was mentioned further by Admiral Mauger.
"I'm really grateful for all of the responders that came out to support this and really search for the vessel. It is a difficult day for all of us," he said.
As of Thursday evening, the Coast Guard said the Pelagic crew aboard that Canadian ship is still on scene in the North Atlantic as they continue to scan the sea floor with the Odysseus.
The Odysseus has grappling claws, but it's not clear if they would actually try to lift any debris from the collapsed Titan. It sits in 12,000 feet of water on the ocean floor, near the bow of the Titanic wreck.