23/06/2023
The US Coast Guard says that a debris field located in the North Atlantic suggests that a submersible missing since Sunday, with five passengers on board, suffered a "catastrophic implosion".
The vessel, which had limited oxygen supplies, went missing deep under the ocean on Sunday after setting off to explore the wreck of the Titanic.
It prompted a massive five-day search and rescue operation led by US, Canadian and French agencies.
On Thursday evening, the Coast Guard said it had located five major pieces of the Titan amid debris around the Titanic site, which it said was "consistent with catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber.
The agency offered its condolences to the families of the victims and said it could not confirm if their bodies would ever be recovered.
The search is being wound down over the next 24 hours, although remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) will remain on site.
Ahead of its press conference, OceanGate - the company that operates the tours - released a statement saying it believed all five passengers on board "have sadly been lost".
"Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time," the company said. "We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew."
On Thursday morning local time, two deep-water remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) arrived at the search site. A submersible attached to the Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic reached the sea floor.
The Victor 6000, which is operated from the French research vessel Atalante, was also deployed. It had a robot that could reach the seabed 3,800m (12,500ft) down, and would have had the capacity to lift the Titan sub to the surface.
The vehicles designed for navy submarine rescues can't get anywhere near as deep as would be needed.
You can read more about the equipment being used in our visual guide.
Authorities said earlier that the search area had been expanded to approximately twice the size of the US state of Connecticut, and a sub-surface search area of around 2.5 miles (4km) deep.
Earlier in the search, on Tuesday and Wednesday, hopes were raised when a Canadian plane picked up underwater noises, but the US Coast Guard was unable to confirm they were from the sub.
On Wednesday the agency said that ROV operations had been relocated "in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises", but "yielded negative results".
Who was on board?
Suleman Dawood, 19, and father Shahzada Dawood, 48
The five people on board were:
Hamish Harding, a 58-year-old British businessman and explorer
Shahzada Dawood, 48-also a British businessman -and his son, Suleman Dawood, 19
Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a 77-year-old French explorer nicknamed "Mr Titanic"
Stockton Rush, 61, is the chief executive of OceanGate, the firm behind the dive
You can read more about them all here.
When did it go missing?
The Polar Prince first arrived near the Titanic wreck on Sunday morning and the Titan was launched at 08:00 local time - it was expected to resurface at 15:00. Contact was lost one hour and 45 minutes into its descent, at about 09:45.
The Coast Guard said they were notified of the problem at about 17:45 - eight hours later. The agency's command centre in Boston then began coordinating search efforts.
The Titanic wreck site is approximately 600km (370 miles) off the coast of Newfoundland.