A tragic end Thursday in the search for a missing submersible carrying five people to the wreck of the Titanic in the North Atlantic. Contact was lost with the sub, called the Titan, on Sunday and an all-out, international search has been taking place ever since.
The U.S. Coast Guard said they discovered two debris fields, 1,600' from the bow of the Titanic on the ocean floor - all five on board are presumed dead.
Experts raised concerns about this vessel for a long time, including industry leader Will Kohnen, the chair of the Marine Technology Society’s Submarine Committee.
"This is terrible, terrible news," said Kohnen about the implosion. "You can impart advice, the best of intentions, but that’s all you can do."
He says he often acts as a moderator between regulators and innovators, trying to strike a balance in the new world of underwater tourism.
"For the innovators, the regulatory procedures take too long and to the regulators, the innovation comes too fast," said Kohnen.
Kohnen says the five decades old industry is a safe one and that OceanGate was able to skirt some of the standards because the vessel was homemade, not being sold and operated in international waters.
"For sure it's going to bring up some questions we will be discussing like the evolution of regulations and how to close some of these loopholes," said Kohnen.
He thinks in this case there was a breach in the hull at a pressure point a thousand times the depth of a swimming pool.
"Even a pilot can only do so much if the system malfunctions," said Kohnen. "They will have passed out in one thousands of a second."
Robots are now left to pick up the pieces and Kohnen says there will be an investigation and review. He called this the biggest tragedy in the industry's history.
"In the middle of the night, we have to make sure when no one is looking, we're still doing it right and here we are in an extremely tragic situation where everyone is left empty," said Kohnen.
The company has made several successful trips to the Titantic, but many others have been marred by equipment malfunction and bad weather, even resulting in passengers filing multiple lawsuits.