SADDEST RETURN
Poignant moment ship which carried doomed Titanic sub returns to port as probe into tragedy gets underway
THE ship which carried the doomed Titan sub and its passengers returned to shore as an investigation got under way yesterday.
Police and safety experts boarded the Polar Prince shortly after it docked in Newfoundland, Canada.
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They will ask about safety operations and why the alarm was not raised until eight hours after contact with the submersible was lost.
The launching platform from which the 22ft sub was dropped was also taken into the harbour and is likely to be examined.
There were 41 people on the Polar Prince before it left St John’s last Sunday and headed 435 miles to the wreck of the Titanic, which the five-strong sub crew aimed to explore.
They died from a “catastrophic implosion” of the mini-sub just an hour and 45 minutes after it submerged in the North Atlantic.
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Canada’s Transportation Safety Board said its investigation would take two years and would focus on improving safety rather than at criminal or civil liability.
Canadian police last night said they were looking at whether there was any criminal offence.
Experts said the victims, including three Britons — billionaire Hamish Harding, 55, businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son Suleman — would have died within milliseconds.
Yesterday Hamish’s sons Rory and Giles released heartbreaking statements.
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One son said: “My dad was a tenacious, hard-working businessman but most importantly, he was the best father I could have ever asked for.
He inspired me more than anyone will ever know. My life will be a success if I’m even half the man he is. My dad is gone but I will never forget him.”
The other added: “The world is so much less without his larger-than-life presence and optimistic spirit.”
The search and rescue operation for the Titan, spanning 10,000 square miles, was wound down after debris was found on Thursday morning.
The US Coast Guard said two debris fields found 1,600ft from the Titanic wreckage, which is 12,500ft beneath the ocean, included the ten-ton Titan’s nose cone and front and back ends of its pressure hull.
Rear Admiral John Mauger said the find was consistent with a catastrophic implosion.
The chances of the men’s bodies being discovered are next to none.
But remotely operated vehicles are scouring for more clues at the site.
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Horizon Arctic, which carried the remotely operated vehicle that found the Titan wreckage, was also still at the search site yesterday.
Also among the victims were 77-year-old French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet — known as Mr Titanic — and Stockton Rush, 61, the CEO of OceanGate, which operates the Titanic tours.
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