'Presumed human remains' recovered from wreckage of Titan submersible: US Coast Guard

WASHINGTON -- The US Coast Guard said on Wednesday that it has recovered "presumed human remains" from the wreckage of the Titan submersible.

Medical professionals will conduct a formal analysis of "presumed human remains" that have been carefully recovered within the wreckage at the site of the incident, the agency said in a press release.

Coast Guard officials said during a news conference last Thursday that the missing submersible imploded near the wreckage of the Titanic, killing all five passengers on board. The submersible went missing more than 600 kilometers off the coast of Newfoundland in eastern Canada earlier this month during a dive to the wreck of the Titanic in the North Atlantic.

The US Coast Guard received debris and evidence recovered from the seafloor at the site of the incident when large pieces of the submersible were transported to St. John's Newfoundland on Wednesday.

"After consultation with international partner investigative agencies, the Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) intends to transport the evidence aboard a US Coast Guard cutter to a port in the United States where the MBI will be able to facilitate further analysis and testing," the agency added.

"I am grateful for the coordinated international and interagency support to recover and preserve this vital evidence at extreme offshore distances and depths," stated MBI Chair Captain Jason Neubauer in the press release, noting that the evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of the tragedy.

Pelagic Research Services, an ocean services company that remotely operated vehicle to discover the debris fields, said in a tweet that "Our team has successfully completed off-shore operations, but is still on mission and will be in the process of demobilization from the Horizon Arctic this morning."

"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," the company added.