The bodies of those lost on the doomed Titan submarine may never be recovered, the US Coast Guard has revealed.
Tourist venture OceanGate revealed their Titan submarine lost contact with their surface vessel on June 18.
The days that followed saw a mass international search and rescue effort that has now come to a tragic end.
Rear Admiral John Mauger, the man who was in charge of the search operation for the missing OceanGate submarine, revealed in a press conference that the US Coast Guard believes all five people on board - OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, French marine expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet; British billionaire Hamish Harding, and British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman - are now dead after the discovery of debris from the lost submersible.
Remnants of parts of the submarine were found roughly 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic on the sea floor.
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The US Coast Guard revealed that the debris indicated the missing Titanic sub had 'imploded' and suffered 'catastrophic failure', leading to the deaths of all souls on board.
The Rear Admiral added that the bodies of those lost may never be returned to their families for burial.
"This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor and the debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel," he told reporters at a press conference.
"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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The Coast Guard added that remote-operated vehicles used to search and salvage underwater vessels would remain at the search zone.
The rest of the international joint rescue effort, as well as the US Coast Guard, will now scale back their own fleets and equipment during the next 48 hours.
The Rear Admiral told the media that sonar buoys had been deployed and in the water for the past 72 hours.
The buoys had picked up no evidence of an implosion, which suggests the fatal and catastrophic incident occurred early in the doomed sub's dive.
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Rear Admiral Mauger revealed the US Coast Guard broke the news to the families of the five missing after determining the debris found on the ocean floor was 'consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber'.
"Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families," he said.
"On behalf of the United States Coast Guard and the entire unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families. I can only imagine what this has been like for them.
"And I hope that this discovery provides some solace during this difficult time."
Rachel Lang