St. John's, Canada - Canadian police are looking into the deaths of five people in the catastrophic Titan submersible implosion.

Superintendent Kent Osmond, of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), said a team of investigators has been established with the "sole purpose" of determining whether a criminal investigation would be warranted.

British adventurer Hamish Harding and father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood were killed on board Titan, alongside the chief executive of the company responsible for the vessel, Stockton Rush, and French national Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

Supt Osmond told reporters at the force’s headquarters in St. John’s that no timeline has been established as to how long preliminary inquiries would take.

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The officer said interviews took place with people on board Titan’s main support ship, the Polar Prince, on Saturday as part of the force’s investigations.

The ship returned to St. John’s harbor on Saturday morning, with safety investigators also making inquiries on board.