Five pieces of debris may give clues to the fate of the Titan sub

Five ‘major pieces’ of debris from the Titan submersible have been found and were able to help establish that the sub had experienced a 'catastrophic event'.

Titan disappeared shortly after it set off to explore the wreck of the Titanic on Sunday (June 18), carrying five people on board.

After an excruciating search and rescue mission, during which it was hoped the crew were alive, the US Coast Guard announced yesterday (Thursday June 22) that debris from the submersible had been found near to the wreck of the Titanic, including pressure chamber, the nose cone, the front-end bell and the aft-end bell.

Speaking during a press conference in Boston Rear Admiral John Mauger said the debris is 'consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber'.

Mauger added: "This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor and the debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel.

"We will continue to work and we will continue to search down there but I don't have an answer for prospects at this time."

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Undersea expert Paul Hankin said that the pieces found helped establish that the sub had experienced a 'catastrophic event'.

He said: “We found five different major pieces of debris that told us that it was the remains of the Titan.

“The initial thing we found was the nose cone which was outside of the pressure hull.

“We then found a large debris field.

“Within that large debris field we found the front-end bell of the pressure hull. That was the first indication that there was a catastrophic event.

“Shortly thereafter we found a second smaller debris field. Within that debris field we found the other end of the pressure hull – the aft end bell – which basically comprises the totality of that pressure vessel.

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“We continue to map out the debris field, and as the admiral said, we will do the best we can to fully map out what’s down there.”

One expert told the BBC that investigators will want to collect as much of the sub's debris as possible to examine it and help gain a better understanding of what may have happened.

Ryan Ramsey, former submarine captain in Britain's Royal Navy, told the BBC: "As many pieces of the vessel as they can do, to get those back up to the surface, and from them they should be able to analyse the break structure, any fractures that have happened and maybe piece together what actually happened in those last moments.”