A former Royal Navy submarine captain has revealed what may have caused the "catastrophic implosion" on the Titan submersible.
As previously reported, the five crew on board lost their lives in the catastrophe after boarding the underwater vessel which intended to venture on a 12,500 feet deep dive into the North Atlantic Ocean to see the infamous Titanic wreckage on Sunday (June 18).
A major search operation headed by the US Coast Guard as well as OceanGate - which owned and operated the sub - began after the Titan lost contact with its mothership, the Polar Prince, and failed to provide a signal.
The search to recover the vessel become critical on Thursday (June 22) after initial estimates stated that the submersible had a 96-hour oxygen supply, which had already elapsed.
The five passengers onboard were OceanGate Expeditions founder and CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman.
On Thursday, First Coast Guard District commander Rear Adm. John Mauger said at a press conference that the debris found earlier in the day was "consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber" of the OceanGate Titan submersible.
"This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor," Mauger said. "The debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel."
Speaking to Sky News, former Navy captain Ryan Ramsey has now weighed in on what could've caused the Titan to collapse.
He believes that either the hatch with bolts used to lock the crew in from the outside suffered a failure or the pressure hull itself had a flaw that burst from the pressure and caused the same result.
When asked if the "unusual" design of the craft was "reckless," he responded: "I wouldn't go so far as to say reckless. I would say disregarding standard ways of building these types of submersibles in pursuit of innovation has huge elements of risk and in this case that risk has been realized in the loss of people's lives.
"I think for what's happened here hopefully they will recover some parts of the hull and they will be able to work out whether it was the pressure vessel that likely imploded or whether it was the hatch and they will learn lessons from that," he added.
Ramsey stated that due to the horrific event, the industry will most likely tighten regulation and close the possible "loophole" that existed in the case of Titan.
He also predicted that the tragedy will cause "extreme tourism" to end, stating: "All maritime activity has risks because the sea is unpredictable.
"Submarines operate in somewhere less explored than space in something more complex than a spacecraft," Ramsey said. He expressed his condolences to the families of the men who passed away and said the wreck needs to be "left alone".
OceanGate shared a full statement - obtained by NBC News - which confirmed that the victims are now presumed to be dead.
"We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost.
"These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans," OceanGate continued. "Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew."
Our thoughts are with everybody impacted by this tragedy.