Investigations are ongoing into the Titan, the tourist submarine owned by the American company OceanGate, which killed the five people on board on its journey to the Titanic wreck at a depth of 3,800 meters.

The United States Coast Guard announced yesterday that it has convened a commission tasked with determining the causes of the tragedy and providing useful elements for civil or criminal penalties, if any.

The focus is currently on the activity of a probe designed to collect the debris from the submarine, which imploded immediately after beginning its descent to the seabed. Further testimonies are then collected. All of these elements will be part of a report containing evidence, conclusions and recommendations. Investigators will also examine audio recordings of the mother ship carrying the Titan.

Canada is also conducting investigations to determine the cause of the disaster. On Saturday, Canadian investigators boarded the mother ship, the Polar Prince, to collect the ship’s voyage data and analyze any polar systems that might contain useful information. “Our mission is not to assign blame, but rather to find out what happened and why, and to determine what needs to be changed to reduce the likelihood or risk of such events happening in the future,” said Kathy Fox, Chair of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are also investigating the incident and said they were looking into “there was a possible violation of federal or provincial law”.

Communications between the submarine and the mothership are closely monitored. According to the OceanGate Expeditions web archive, these are text messages that are exchanged every 15 minutes.

Three days ago, the US Coast Guard announced that the Titan had suffered a “catastrophic implosion.” Military experts have found wreckage from the submarine – 480 meters off the bow of the Titanic wreckage – suggesting a loss of pressure.