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BREAKING: Crew Onboard Titanic Submersible Dead

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All the five people on board a missing submersible near the wreck of the Titanic have been confirmed dead according to OceanGate.

“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,” the company said in a pensive statement on Thursday.

The company said the “men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans” while sending condolences to “every member of their families during this tragic time”.

“We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.
This is an extremely sad time for our dedicated employees who are exhausted and grieving deeply over this loss.

“This is a very sad time for the entire explorer community, and for each of the family members of those lost at sea.

“We respectfully ask that the privacy of these families be respected during this most painful time,” OceanGate solemnly said.

The confirmation came a few hours after a “debris field” was discovered by an underwater robot searching near the wreck of the Titanic for the missing submersible.

The development came after rescuers insisted that the multinational mission to locate the craft was still focused on finding the crew alive despite fears that the vessel’s oxygen may have run out.

“Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information,” the US Coast Guard said in a tweet.

The coast guard said the debris field was found “within the search area by an ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) near the Titanic.”

The small tourist sub had been lost since Sunday, somewhere in a vast swathe of the North Atlantic between the ocean’s surface and more than two miles (nearly four kilometers) below.

‘Catastrophic Loss’
At a press briefing in Boston later Thursday, the US Coast Guard said the debris discovered on the ocean floor suggests the missing submersible near the wreck of the Titanic suffered a “catastrophic loss” of pressure,

“Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families,” Rear Admiral John Mauger told reporters in Boston.

“On behalf of the United States Coast Guard and the entire unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families.”

The missing submersible was carrying British billionaire Hamish Harding and dual Pakistani-British citizens Shahzada Dawood, a tycoon, and his son Suleman. OceanGate Expeditions charges $250,000 for a seat on the sub.

Also on board is OceanGate’s CEO, Stockton Rush, and a French submarine operator Paul-Henri Nargeolet, nicknamed “Mr Titanic” for his frequent dives at the site.

Ships and planes have scoured 10,000 square miles (around 20,000 square kilometers) of surface water — roughly the size of the US state of Massachusetts — for the vessel.

The Titanic’s watery grave is situated 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, and more than two miles below the surface of the North Atlantic.

The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank in 1912 during its maiden voyage from England to New York with 2,224 passengers and crew on board. More than 1,500 people died.

It was found in 1985 and remains a lure for nautical experts and underwater tourists.

The pressure at that depth as measured in atmospheres is 400 times what it is at sea level.

In 2018, OceanGate Expeditions’ former director of marine operations David Lochridge alleged in a lawsuit that he had been fired after raising concerns about the company’s “experimental and untested design” of Titan.

International

US vice president’s wife, Usha Vance, announces fourth pregnancy

The couple, who married in 2014, already have three children — Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel.

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FILE – Vice President JD Vance, right, and second lady Usha Vance.

Usha Vance, the wife of United States Vice President JD Vance, has announced that she is pregnant with her fourth child.

In a post on X on Tuesday, the second lady said she is expecting a baby boy in late July.

“Usha and the baby are doing well,” a statement posted on Tuesday to the second lady’s social media account read.

The couple, who married in 2014, already have three children — Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel.

Usha Vance, née Chilukuri, was born and raised in the working-class suburbs of San Diego, California, to a mechanical engineer father and a molecular biologist mother who moved to the US from Andhra Pradesh, India.

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South Korea Confirms New African Swine Fever Outbreak, Culls 20,000 Pigs in Swift Response

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Authorities in South Korea have confirmed a fresh case of African Swine Fever (ASF) at a pig farm in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, marking the country’s first outbreak in nearly two months since November 2025.

The infection was detected after 32 pigs died at the facility on January 16, 2026, with laboratory tests confirming that 29 of them tested positive for the highly contagious and fatal virus.

The outbreak, reported by the Gangwon provincial government and covered by major outlets including Yonhap News Agency and The Korea Herald, prompted immediate quarantine measures.

In response, officials culled approximately 20,000 pigs at the affected farm to halt the spread of the disease.

A 48-hour standstill order was also imposed on pig farms across six neighboring cities and counties, restricting movements to prevent further transmission.

Prime Minister Kim Min-seok directed emergency containment efforts, including restricted site access, intensive disinfection protocols, and investigations into the outbreak’s origin.

The government is prioritizing rapid tracing and biosecurity enhancements to safeguard the nation’s pork industry.

ASF, a viral disease devastating to domestic pigs and wild boars, causes high mortality rates but poses no risk to human health or food safety when pork is properly cooked.

This incident in Gangwon Province — the first ASF case recorded in the region in about 14 months — underscores ongoing challenges in controlling the virus, which has affected South Korea since 2019 through both farm infections and detections in wild boars.

Officials continue monitoring nearby farms and wild populations as part of heightened national vigilance.

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High-speed train collision in Spain kills at least 39

Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente described the incident as “extremely strange” as officials launched an investigation.

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At least 39 people have died in a train collision in southern Spain and dozens more have been injured in the country’s worst rail crash in more than a decade, according to Spain’s Civil Guard.

Carriages on a Madrid-bound train derailed and crossed over to the opposite tracks, colliding with an oncoming train in Adamuz, near the city of Córdoba.

Four hundred passengers and staff were onboard both trains, the rail networks said.

At least 73 people were taken to hospital – 24 of them seriously injured, including four children – according to Andalusia’s emergency services.

Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente described the incident as “extremely strange” as officials launched an investigation.

All the railway experts consulted by the government “are extremely baffled by the accident”, Puente told reporters in Madrid.

Rail network operator Adif said the collision happened at 19:45 local time (18:45 GMT), about an hour after the train left Málaga heading to Madrid, when it derailed on a straight stretch of track.

The force of the crash pushed the carriages of the second train into an embankment, Puente said.

He added that most of those killed and injured were in the front carriages of the second train, which was travelling from Madrid to Huelva.

The type of train involved in the crash was a Freccia 1000, which can reach top speeds of 400 km/h (250 mph), a spokesperson for the Italian rail company Ferrovie dello Stato told the Reuters news agency.

Credit: BBC

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