OceanGate said it is suspending all exploration and commercial operations after five people, including the company’s chief executive, died during its expedition to the wreck of the Titanic last month.
The Everett, Washington-based company announced the development in a banner on its websites.
OceanGate, founded in 2009, offered tourists the opportunity to travel in submersibles to the depths of the ocean to see shipwrecks and underwater canyons up close.
This photo provided by OceanGate Expeditions shows a submersible called the Titan that used to visit the site of the Titanic wreck.
OceanGate Expeditions via AP, FILE
On June 18, his submersible Titan disappeared while on a deep voyage on the Titanic. The wreckage of the missing OceanGate submersible, including the tail cone, was found on the ocean floor about 1,600 feet from the bow of the wrecked Titanic on June 22 by a remotely operated vehicle.
Debris recovered from the submersible contained “presumed human remains,” the US Coast Guard said last week.
The Marine Board of Investigation will conduct “further analysis and testing” of the evidence, the Coast Guard said.
“Much work remains to be done to understand the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the TITAN and to help ensure that a similar tragedy does not occur again,” said Capt. Jason Neubauer, chairman of the Board of Inquiry for the Navy, in a statement. on June 28.
The U.S. Coast Guard is leading an investigation into the fatal incident, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, which said it will “contribute to its efforts.”
Former National Transportation Safety Board investigator Tom Haueter called the probe “uncharted territory” that could take “months” to analyze the errors.
“This is the first fatality on a passenger submarine that I can think of and certainly the first to enter the Titanic at this depth,” Haueter told ABC News.
This undated image, courtesy of OceanGate Expeditions, shows their submersible Titan beginning a descent.
OceanGate Expeditions/AFP via Getty Images, FILE
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police also said last month that it was “examining the circumstances” of the deaths aboard the Titan and would launch a full investigation if “circumstances indicate that criminal, federal or provincial laws may have been violated.” .
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush was among the five passengers killed in the experimental submersible, which has come under scrutiny for its carbon fiber construction and design. Stockton had previously defended the decision to make the Titan out of carbon fiber, saying he believed a submarine made from carbon fiber would have a better strength-to-buoyancy ratio than titanium.
OceanGate had completed more than 14 expeditions and more than 200 dives in the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, according to the company’s website. A seat on his submersible to view the wreckage of the Titanic cost $250,000 per passenger.
