OceanGate, the Washington-based company that owned the Titan submersible that imploded on a voyage to the Titanic wreckage last month, wrote on its website that it is suspending commercial and exploration operations.
“OceanGate has suspended all exploration and commercial operations,” a message on the company’s website reads on Thursday afternoon.
The company did not elaborate beyond the statement on its website when Spectrum News reached out for additional comment.
The development comes after the company’s submersible imploded on its way to the wreckage fo the Titanic, killing five people, including its CEO Stockton Rush who piloted the craft. The others on board the craft were identified as Hamish Harding, a British businessman, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French deep sea explorer, Pakistani billionaire Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman.
The Coast Guard, which is leading the investigation into the incident, said last week that it recovered “presumed human remains” from the wreckage of the submersible. Remote operated vehicles, known as ROVs, were used to retrieve the debris from the ocean floor about 12,500 feet underwater.
The U.S. Coast Guard convened a Marine Board of Investigation, its highest level of investigation, into the implosion, and plans to hold a public hearing in the future.
OceanGate is based in the U.S. and OceanGate Expeditions, a related company that led the Titan’s dives to the Titanic, is registered in the Bahamas. The Titan submersible itself “was not a U.S. flagged vessel and was never certified or certificated by the U.S. Coast Guard,” the Coast Guard has said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
