Debris on Ocean Floor Is Assessed to Be From Missing Submersible

The five men onboard the missing submersible in the North Atlantic are believed to be dead, the U.S. Coast Guard and the company that operated the vessel said Thursday, after searchers found debris from the craft that ended a desperate search to find them alive.

OceanGate Expeditions, the company that operated the vessel, said in a statement Thursday that the five passengers “have sadly been lost.”

“We grieve the loss of life,” the company said.

The men who were aboard the craft were: Stockton Rush, the founder and chief executive OceanGate; Paul-Henry Nargeolet, considered a leading authority on the Titanic; Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, members of one of Pakistan’s richest families; and Hamish Harding, a British aviator and explorer.