“Families were notified as soon as the wreckage was located,” a Coast Guard spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
The Defense Department did not tell the families of passengers on board the Titan submersible after the explosion was detected after it lost contact with its mother ship.
According to a statement to Fox News Digital, the US Coast Guard, which led the Pentagon’s Unified Command at the time of the incident, said it contacted the families immediately after learning of the situation and provided them with updates after more of the wreckage was found. Days later. However, the US Navy detected the explosion shortly after it lost contact with the Titan on June 18, officials revealed on Thursday.
Coast Guard spokeswoman Anne McGoldrick said, “Unified Command reached out to the families immediately upon learning of the incident and has maintained ongoing communication throughout our response.” She explained that it is standard procedure in the search and rescue community to involve families before releasing information to the public. McGoldrick said, “The families were immediately notified as soon as the wreckage was discovered.”
It is currently unclear whether the authorities responsible for the incident response informed the families of the possibility of an explosion on June 18 or in the following four days. The Coast Guard, Navy, and Department of Defense did not respond to follow-up questions from Fox News Digital.
On June 18, five men boarded the Titan, a Titan submersible operated by the exploration company Oceangate, with the intention of diving to view the wreckage of the Titanic, about 900 miles east of Massachusetts. Among the passengers were Oceangate CEO Stockton Rush, British businessman Hamish Harding, Pakistani father and son Shahzada and Suleiman Dawood, and former French Navy officer and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargolet.
About an hour and 45 minutes into the dive, the Titan submersible lost communication with its mother ship. In the days that followed, the Coast Guard took the lead in coordinating a comprehensive search and rescue operation with private sector firms and Canadian organizations. Regular updates are provided to the public about the estimated oxygen supply on Titan.
On Wednesday, the Coast Guard announced that they had detected “underwater noises” in the search area, raising concerns that the submersible and its passengers may be trapped below the surface.
However, on Thursday, the Coast Guard made an announcement that they had found a “debris field” in the area where the submersible is believed to have gone missing. At a subsequent press conference, officials revealed that the debris found was consistent with the complete loss of the pressure chamber, indicating that the Titan submersible had exploded immediately after it lost contact.
“After making this decision, we immediately notified the families,” said Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger. “On behalf of the United States Coast Guard and the entire Unified Command, I extend my heartfelt condolences to the families affected by this tragedy.”
Shortly after Admiral Mauger’s announcements, a classified acoustic detection system near the wreck of the Titanic heard sounds of an explosion while the Titan submersible lost contact on June 18, a Navy official told Fox News Digital.
“Although this information is not conclusive, it was immediately shared with the incident commander to assist in the ongoing search and rescue operation,” a Navy official said in a communication with Fox News Digital.
SOURCE: Fox news.com