The team leader, overwhelmed with emotions, spoke to the press about the recovery timeline of the missing Titan submersible.

Despite struggling to hold back tears, he explained that his team was processing a myriad of emotions throughout the ordeal.

According to Ed Cassano, a deep-sea expert and the leader of the team, it was his belief that the submersible had been pushed beyond its safe operating depth.

During a press conference, Cassano revealed that OceanGate had reached out to his company, Pelagic Research Services, shortly after losing contact with the submersible on June 18. In response, his team swiftly deployed a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), which successfully located the wreckage.

“Our primary concern was always the well-being of the Titan’s crew,” Cassano stated. “To put it simply, our sole focus was on rescuing them.”

He further added, “There are a lot of emotions involved, and exhaustion is prevalent among the team members.”

In the search effort for the missing Titan submersible, Ed Cassano’s company’s remotely operated vehicle (ROV), named Odysseus 6K, stood as the sole capable unit to reach the profound depths where the wreckage of the Titanic lay.

Initially prepared for a daring rescue mission, Cassano and his team soon confronted the heartbreaking reality that the passengers of the submersible could not have survived.

“Regrettably, by noon, our rescue operation had to transition into a recovery operation,” Cassano somberly expressed.

He recounted the moment when their team reached the seafloor, revealing the heart-wrenching discovery of the Titan submersible debris.

At this point, Cassano paused, took a deep breath, and fought back tears as he addressed the press: “I apologize, we are currently in the process of demobilizing. Emotions run high, and exhaustion has taken its toll on our team.”

“I’ll say we pushed some things, and we all pushed some things on this response.” Ed Cassano, the CEO of #Pelagic showing reporters how their system works. #Titan pic.twitter.com/j9ocVHl2Yv

— Josh Benson (@WFLAJosh) June 30, 2023

Tragically, all five passengers aboard the Titan, which included OceanGate’s CEO Stockton Rush, were pronounced dead when the submersible imploded during a dive to explore the Titanic shipwreck on June 18.

Cassano firmly believed that the cause of the disaster was straightforward: the submersible had been pushed beyond its designated depth limit.

On Wednesday, the US Coast Guard announced that they had recovered presumed human remains.

Among the passengers were French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, British businessman Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, and his 19-year-old son, Suleman.