NEW YORK, June 23. /TASS/. The US Coast Guard will continue its operation to search and recover dead bodies and wreckage of the Titan submersible in the Atlantic after the crew of the vessel was confirmed dead, the First Coast Guard District commander Rear Adm. John Mauger has told reporters.

"We’ll continue to work and search the area down there but I don’t have an answer for prospects at this time," he said, answering to a question about the recovery mission for the victims and wreckage.

He added that nine various vessels remain in the search operation zone at the moment. He did not answer to the question of when the search might be called off.

On June 19, the OceanGate Expeditions company announced that it had lost communication with the Titan sub, which was taking tourists to the site of the Titanic wreckage. According to the US Coast Guard, there were five people inside the vessel; communication was lost about 1 hour 45 minutes after diving on June 18. According to Sky News, the submersible’s passengers were OceanGate Expeditions President and Founder Stockton Rush, French aquanaut Paul-Henri Nargeolet, British billionaire Hamish Harding, owner of Action Aviation, Pakistani-born British businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.

Late on Thursday it was announced that fragments of the submersible have been discovered, bearing signs "consistent with a catastrophic implosion.".