Titan submersible investigation: TSB to review Canadian involvement in incident

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) says it’s reviewing all the relevant documents, interviews and materials it has gathered as part of its safety investigation into the Titan submersible and its Canadian-tagged support vessel Polar Prince.

The Titan imploded on June 18 about an hour and a half into its journey to the Titanic wreckage site after it lost contact with the Polar Prince, which helped launch the submersible on its dive, resulting in the deaths of all five passengers and crew.

Canadian and U.S. officials announced investigations into the ill-fated expedition last week, with TSB saying its independent investigation would focus on "the circumstances of this operation conducted by the Canadian-flagged vessel Polar Prince."

In a news release Thursday, TSB said it has finished collecting relevant documents, completed preliminary interviews with those aboard the Polar Prince and sent the support vessel’s voyage data recorder to a laboratory in Ottawa for further analysis.

The federal agency said it has also “inspected, documented and catalogued” the wreckage from the Titan, which was recovered from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean by the United States Coast Guard and arrived in St. John’s port Thursday. The U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday "presumed human remains" were found in the wreckage.

Over the next few weeks, TSB said it will review all this information and gather any additional information required as part of its “safety-focused, independent” investigation, which will aim to find “all causal and contributing factors” in the incident — without attributing blame or civil or criminal liability.

“This allows the focus to be placed on addressing safety deficiencies and on preventing similar accidents from happening again,” the agency added.

“The TSB will continue to cooperate with the United States, United Kingdom, and France in accordance with international agreements, as they are ‘substantially interested states’ under the International Maritime Organization Casualty Investigation Code.”

According to TSB, there were 17 crew members and 24 people on board the Polar Prince when five of them boarded the Titan and submerged on a course toward the Titanic, about 700 kilometres southeast of Newfoundland.

With files from The Canadian Press