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Pieces of Titan wreckage taken off ship in St. John’s as investigations begin

A ship is docking in St. John’s on Wednesday morning carrying debris from the Titan submersible. The vessel imploded last Sunday, killing all five people on board. 

Debris expected to be crucial part of investigations into ‘catastrophic implosion.’

A ship enters a harbour.

A blue ship cut through a blanket of grey fog on Wednesday morning, navigating between the steep cliffs at the entrance to St. John’s harbour with precious cargo on board.

The Horizon Arctic returned to port carrying the shattered pieces of the Titan submersible, 10 days after it went missing off the coast of Newfoundland with five souls on board.

The ship was carrying the Odysseus, a remote-operated vehicle that brought the rescue mission to an end when it spotted debris on the ocean floor some 200 metres away from the hull of the Titanic.

“Our team has successfully completed off-shore operations, but is still on mission and will be in the process of demobilization from the Horizon Arctic this morning,” said a spokesperson from Pelagic Research, the Boston company that owns the Odysseus ROV.

“They have been working around the clock now for 10 days, through the physical and mental challenges of this operation, and are anxious to finish the mission and return to their loved ones.”

A line of seven people, some in reflective vests and white hard hats, board a ship up a stairway.

Minutes after the ship docked on the south side the the harbour, teams of investigators boarded the Horizon Arctic to begin their work.

Transportation safety boards from the United States and Canada, as well as the U.S. coast guard and RCMP are now probing the incident. U.S. coast guard officials told the media the first stage of their investigation will be examining the remnants of the submersible.

A yellow square-shaped machine sits on the right side of a blue ship.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ryan Cooke is a multiplatform journalist with CBC News in St. John’s. His work often takes a deeper look at social issues and the human impact of public policy. Originally from rural Newfoundland, he attended the University of Prince Edward Island and worked for newspapers throughout Atlantic Canada before joining CBC in 2016. He can be reached at ryan.cooke@cbc.ca.

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Credit belongs to : www.cbc.ca

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