Titan submarine: Marine expert reveals it will cost 'astronomical' sum to retrieve passengers' bodies

On Thursday 22 June, ruins of the Titan submarine were found. Now that we know that all the passengers have died, but how much would it cost to get their bodies back?

Marine expert reveals it will cost 'astronomical' sum to retrieve Titan victims' bodies
© Ralph White / GETTY IMAGES
Marine expert reveals it will cost 'astronomical' sum to retrieve Titan victims' bodies

On Thursday 23 June, just a few hours after it was announced that the passengers of the Titan submarine ran out of air, the search team found debris of what they believed to be remains of the vessel.

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With this discovery the most plausible explanation is that the Titan imploded.

But now that we know for certain that the passengers have passed, the time for mourning comes. But how do you grieve when there is no body?

What happened to the Titan?

On Sunday 12 June, the Titan submarine went missing with 5 passengers onboard.

All passengers were there to get a closer look at the ruins of the Titanic which lie at the very bottom of the sea, at 12,500 feet.

When the Titan went missing, an international effort was launched to find it. Hope was kept alive that it could be found intact, before the passengers ran out of oxygen.

However, on in the evening of Thursday 22 June, remains of the Titan were found.

The US Coast Guard said:

a debris field was found at the bottom of the ocean near the Titanic

He continued saying that the Titan suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion.’

Read more: Here's what lack of oxygen does to your body and it's terrifying

What happened to the Titan passengers?

According to the US Coast Guard, the implosion of the vessel means that the passengers were killed instantly.

Following the news Captain John Nobles, who worked in the Marine for over 40 years, talked to Sky News and said that the bodies are now with the thousands of Titanic passengers who passed away in the 1912 wreckage.

But now that the families of the passengers have been notified of the existence of the debris field they might want to get the bodies of their loved ones back.

Captain John Nobles reveals what will happen to their bodies

In his statement Captain John Nobles said that the bodies are:

at the bottom of the sea. They are now in a resting place

He also revealed that the cost to get the bodies back would be 'astronomical'. He added:

The decision may well be to leave the Titan victims in peace where they are. And dare I say it, the cost to recover them would be astronomical.

But what does astronomical actually mean? While he did not explicitly reveal exactly how much it would cost, we already know that going to the bottom of the ocean is quite expensive—the passengers paid $250K just to visit the wreckage.

We also have to consider that this 'astronomical sum' includes the amount of human resources that a search for the bodies would require.

Read more: Titanic submarine: Channel 5 to release documentary mere hours after passengers run out of air

Sources:

The Mirror: Sea Captain gives chilling description of what will happen to bodies of Titan victims

Constellation Marine Services

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Death in milliseconds: Creepy video shows what happened to the Titan submarine Death in milliseconds: Creepy video shows what happened to the Titan submarine