Missing Sub Imploded; Man From Prominent CA Family Among 5 Presumed Dead: Coast Guard

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — All five people aboard the missing Titanic submersible are believed to be dead as debris found on the ocean floor Thursday is consistent with an implosion, according to the U.S. Coast Guard and an announcement from the company that operates the tour.

Among those on board was pilot Richard Stockton Rush III, 61, better known as Stockton Rush, the CEO and founder of submersible company OceanGate Inc., as well as a descendant of one of the Bay Area's most prominent and wealthiest families.

The debris was found around 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic, Rear Admiral John Mauger, from the U.S. Coast Guard, said at a Thursday afternoon news conference in Boston.

Minutes before Thursday's news conference, OceanGate Expeditions released a statement to The New York Times saying “we now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost.”

The Titan submersible was reported overdue Sunday night about 435 miles south of St. John's, Newfoundland in Canada. The craft submerged Sunday morning. The support vessel lost contact with it about an hour and 45 minutes later.

If the submersible was in-tact, it was expected to run out of oxygen by 10 a.m. PT Thursday. The craft had a four-day supply of oxygen when it launched Sunday, but experts have noted that timeline could change based on occupants' efforts to conserve breathable air.

Locating the submersible was just the first step of what authorities had termed a search-and-rescue mission. The craft would need to be brought to the surface, which takes 2.5 hours, and its door unbolted from the outside, the Associated Press reported.

The debris was discovered by an underwater robot operating within the search area, the Coast Guard said.

The search area had expanded in recent days to cover an area twice the size of Connecticut across a sea floor that reaches depths of 2.5 miles, the Associated Press reported.

Before the remote vehicle reached the floor, the search for the missing submersible in the North Atlantic Ocean was concentrated to the area where "banging" noises were detected underwater, though officials were unsure of the source of the sound.

Washington-based company OceanGate began bringing tourists to the Titanic in 2021, to study the deterioration of the wreck.

Rush traces his lineage to both the Rush and Davies families, SFGATE reported. Among his ancestors are Benjamin Rush and Richard Stockton, both of whom signed the Declaration of Independence, according to The New York Times.

He is the grandson of millionaire Ralph K. Davies, who started as a 15-year-old office boy at Standard Oil of California in the 1910s before becoming the company’s youngest-ever director and eventually launching his own oil business, SFGATE and the Times reported.

Related articles:

• Debris Field Found Near Titanic In Search For Missing Submersible
• Pilot Of Missing Submersible Is From Prominent CA Family
• What To Know About OceanGate, Owner Of Lost Submersible

This story contains reporting from Patch's Max Bennett, Anna Schier and Michelle Rotuno-Johnson.