Plan to retrieve the Titanic's distress call radio spurs debate on finding human remains

People have been diving to the Titanic's wreck for 35 years. No one has found human remains, according to the company that owns the salvage rights.

But the company's plan to retrieve the ship's iconic radio equipment has sparked a debate: Could the world's most famous shipwreck still hold remains of passengers and crew who died a century ago?

Lawyers for the U.S. government have raised that question in an ongoing court battle to block the planned expedition. They cite archaeologists who say remains could still be there. And they say the company fails to consider the prospect in its dive plan.

This 2004 image provided by the University of Rhode Island's Institute for Exploration and Center for Archaeological Oceanography and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Ocean Exploration shows the shoes of one of the possible victims of the Titanic disaster. / AP

"Fifteen hundred people died in that wreck," said Paul Johnston, curator of maritime history at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. "You can't possibly tell me that some human remains aren't buried deep somewhere where there are no currents."

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