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PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Debris from the Titan submersible has been returned to
land after a fatal implosion during its voyage to the wreck of the Titanic
captured the world's attention last week.

The return of the debris to port in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, is a
key piece of the investigation into why the submersible imploded, killing all
five people on board. Twisted chunks of the 22-foot submersible were unloaded at
a Canadian Coast Guard pier on Wednesday.



The Canadian ship Horizon Arctic carried a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, to
search the ocean floor near the Titanic wreck for pieces of the submersible.
Pelagic Research Services, a company with offices in Massachusetts and New York
that owns the ROV, said on Wednesday that it has completed offshore operations.

Pelagic Research Services' team is “still on mission” and cannot comment on the
ongoing Titan investigation, which involves several government agencies in the
U.S. and Canada, said Jeff Mahoney, a spokesperson for the company.

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

Debris from the Titan was located about 12,500 feet (3,810 meters) underwater
and roughly 1,600 feet (488 meters) from the Titanic on the ocean floor, the
Coast Guard said last week. The Coast Guard is leading the investigation into
why the submersible imploded during its June 18 descent. Officials announced on
June 22 that the submersible had imploded and all five people on board were
dead.




The Coast Guard has convened a Marine Board of Investigation into the implosion.
That is the highest level of investigation conducted by the Coast Guard.

One of the experts the Coast Guard consulted with during the search said
analyzing the physical material of recovered debris could reveal important clues
about what happened to the Titan. And there could be electronic data, said Carl
Hartsfield of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

“Certainly all the instruments on any deep sea vehicle, they record data. They
pass up data. So the question is, is there any data available? And I really
don’t know the answer to that question,” he said Monday.




Representatives for Horizon Arctic did not respond to requests for comment.




Coast Guard representatives declined to comment on the investigation or the
return of debris to shore on Wednesday. No bodies have been recovered, though
Coast Guard officials said days earlier that they were taking precautions in
case they encountered human remains during the investigation.

Ocean Gate CEO and pilot Stockton Rush was k illed in the implosion along with
two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman
Dawood; British adventurer Hamish Harding; and Titanic expert Paul-Henri
Nargeolet.




Representatives for the National Transportation Safety Board and Transportation
Safety Board of Canada, which are both involved in the investigation, also
declined to comment. The National Transportation Safety Board has said the Coast
Guard has declared the loss of the Titan submersible to be a “major marine
casualty” and the Coast Guard will lead the investigation.



“We are not able to provide any additional information at this time as the
investigation is ongoing,” said Liam MacDonald, a spokesperson for the
Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

A spokesperson for the International Maritime Organization, the U.N.’s maritime
agency, has said any investigative reports from the disaster would be submitted
for review. Member states of the IMO can also propose changes such as stronger
regulations of submersibles.

Currently, the IMO has voluntary safety guidelines for tourist submersibles
which include requirements they be inspected, have emergency response plans, and
have a certified pilot on board among other requirements. Any safety proposals
would not likely be considered by the IMO until its next Maritime Safety
Committee which begins in May 2024.




OceanGate Expeditions, the company that owned and operated the Titan, is based
in the U.S. but the submersible was registered in the Bahamas. The OceanGate
company in Everett, Washington closed when the Titan was found. Meanwhile, the
Titan’s mother ship, the Polar Prince, was from Canada.




The operator charged passengers $250,000 each to participate in the voyage. The
implosion of the Titan has raised questions about the safety of private undersea
exploration operations. The Coast Guard also wants to use the investigation to
improve safety of submersibles.




___

Associated Press writer Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire, and Michael Casey
in Boston contributed to this report.








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THE CLAIM: VIDEO FEATURES AUDIO CAPTURED DURING SEARCH FOR OCEANGATE SUBMERSIBLE



A June 21 Facebook video shows an image of the OceanGate submersible while audio
of sonar beeps and thumping plays in the background.

"Here's the audio of the knocking they caught from the submarine," reads
on-screen text.

Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.

The caption claims the audio was heard every 30 minutes during the search for
the submersible.

The post was shared more than 25,000 times in a week. Similar versions of the
claim have been shared on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our
latest debunks




OUR RATING: FALSE

The noises heard during the search haven't been publicly released. A member of
the Coast Guard said they seem to be unrelated to the submersible.




NOISES APPEAR TO BE UNRELATED TO SUBMERSIBLE



Underwater banging noises were detected during the joint search for the missing
OceanGate submersible, which led many to think the five men aboard were still
alive.



However, the audio in the Facebook video wasn't recorded during the search.

Robert Hodges, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson, told the Associated Press that
the military branch hasn't released any audio from the search effort. The Coast
Guard did not immediately respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY.

The Coast Guard didn't publish the audio during or after its June 21 press
briefing, during which Capt. Jamie Frederic announced searchers had detected
underwater noises.

Jessica Lamirande, a spokesperson for the Canadian Department of National
Defense, told USA TODAY in an email that Canada hasn't released the audio
either.

Fact check: Nothing found so far in search for Titanic-bound submersible,
contrary to viral claim

After debris from the submersible was found about 1,600 feet from the bow of the
Titanic, Rear Adm. John Mauger said in a June 22 press briefing that the
submersible had imploded and the underwater noise appeared to be unrelated.

Matt Dzieciuch, an ocean acoustics expert at the Scripps Institution of
Oceanography, told AP the audio in the Facebook video doesn't sound real because
the banging noises are "exceptionally clear" and the time between the "pings" of
the sonar is too short. Dzieciuch also said he would expect the sound of the
water to be quieter and the background noises to be steadier.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not
immediately receive a response.

The claim has also been debunked by Lead Stories and Full Fact.




OUR FACT-CHECK SOURCES:

 * Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, June 21, Coast Guard,
   partners hold press briefing for 21-ft submersible Titan 900 miles east of
   Cape Cod
 * Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, June 22, Coast Guard holds
   press briefing about discovery of debris belonging to the 21-ft submersible,
   Titan
 * Jessica Lamirande, June 23, Email exchange with USA TODAY
 * Associated Press, June 22, Coast Guard did not release audio of noises from
   its search for the Titanic-bound submersible

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition,
ad-free app or e-newspaper here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.


Full screen


1 of 8 Photos in Gallery©Stephen Brashear, AP




A U.S. Coast Guard boat and Kitsap, Wash., County Sherrif boat search the area,
Monday, Sept. 5, 2022, near Freeland, Wash., on Whidbey Island north of Seattle
where a chartered floatplane crashed the day before. The plane was carrying 10
people and was en route from Friday Harbor, Wash., to Renton, Wash.
See More


This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Viral audio of underwater banging
unrelated to search for Titan submersible | Fact check




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