Canadian authorities on Saturday opened a probe into the implosion of the Titan submersible, which led to the death of five crew members. 

The sub’s disappearance near the wreckage of the Titanic last Sunday had set off a multinational search-and-rescue operation. The probe could take between 18 months to two years.

"Our mandate is to find out what happened and why and to find out what needs to change to reduce the chance or the risk of such occurrences in the future," Transportation Safety Board (TSB) chair Kathy Fox as quoted as saying by AFP. 

"We know everybody wants answers, particularly the families and the public," she told reporters.

TSB investigators on Saturday boarded the Canadian-flagged Polar Price cargo ship, which had set sail from St. John's last weekend to bring the ill-fated Titan to its launch point in the north Atlantic. The U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday that all five people aboard the submersible had died after the vessel suffered a "catastrophic implosion."

Meanwhile, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) was looking into whether any criminal laws had been broken in the chain of events that led to the deaths of the Titan adventurers. The investigators' job is to determine "whether or not a full investigation by the RCMP is warranted," said Newfoundland and Labrador Superintendent Kent Osmond.