Crew Leader of 'Titan' Sub Recovery Tearful as He Describes Emotional Recovery Operation

Edward Cassano asked reporters to "recognize the seriousness of the events and respect the depth and range of emotions."

The operation to recover the once-missing Titan submersible was "unprecedented," Edward Cassano, CEO of Pelagic Research Services, told reporters on Friday.

During a press conference in East Aurora, New York, Cassano opened up about the recovery of the submersible — which disappeared and was eventually found to have imploded on Father's Day during a tragic trip to the wreckage of the Titanic. All five people aboard — OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, 61, British Pakistani billionaire Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Suleman Dawood, 19, British billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77 — died as a result.

As Cassano emotionally explained Friday while discussing the moments they found the debris, his crew was still experiencing “a lot of emotions" and is "tired," per local Buffalo station WKBW.

“Shortly after arriving on the seafloor, we discovered the debris of the Titan submersible. Of course, we continue to document the site and by 12 p.m. sadly a rescue turned into recovery,” Cassano said of the operation, of which he added he was dispatched to the site as part of a potential rescue.

Related: 'Presumed Human Remains' Recovered from 'Titan' Sub Wreckage, Coast Guard Says

The CEO then described the Odysseus 6-K — a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV)  and ocean-floor explorer which "operates from the ship through a tether" and features cameras, robotic arms and sonar, per the outlet.

“It was unprecedented in a sense, our ability to arrive at the sea floor and then go to work and then we work for another five or six days at 3,800 meters and then we began the recovery operation which in and of themselves are quite challenging,” Cassano added.

Engineer Eric Peterson, who built the Odysseus 6-K, described his feelings toward the Titan operation. “Every time it goes in there's, you know, confidence that, of course, it's going to work, but still, in the back of your head — it's like if it ever wasn't going to — please don't be right now. But it worked great,” he said, per WKBW.

During his press conference, Cassano asked reporters to "recognize the seriousness of the events and respect the depth and range of emotions, certainly, and most importantly, the family and friends with the Titan and all those in the response."

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As previously reported, the U.S. Coast Guard revealed earlier this week that crews recovered "presumed human remains" while searching through the sub's wreckage. The "presumed" remains "were carefully recovered" within the wreckage, officials added, sharing that a Coast Guard cutter will transport them to a port in the United States where the Marine Board of Investigation will then facilitate further analysis and testing.

"The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of this tragedy," MBI Chair Captain Jason Neubauer said, according to a release.

"There is still a substantial amount of work to be done to understand the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the Titan and help ensure a similar tragedy does not occur again," he added.

On Wednesday, debris from the imploded sub was brought back to port in St. Johns, Newfoundland, 10 days after the sub lost contact with the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince.

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