Time to consider whether Titanic trips should end, society president says

In a statement published online, Charles Haas, president of the Titanic International Society, an organisation set up in 1989 to preserve the history of the Titanic, questioned whether visits to the historic site 3,800m below the surface should continue.

The Titan submersible lost contact with surface vessels during a dive to the wreck of the Titanic on Sunday (OceanGate Expeditions/PA)

It is time to consider whether trips to the wreckage of the Titanic should end following the death of five people on board the Titan submersible, the president of the Titanic International Society has said.

The five people on board the deep-sea vessel – Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman Dawood, Paul-Henri Nargeolet and the chief executive and founder of OceanGate Expeditions Stockton Rush – were killed after it imploded on its way to the wreckage.