The U.S. government has filed a legal challenge against an expedition that plans to recover items of historical interest from the Titanic. The legal battle comes a few months after a submarine imploded while making a sightseeing expedition to the wreckage.

According to an AP News report, the government filed a document with the U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, to block RMS Titanic Inc. from making an expedition planned for May 2024.

The government highlights the existence of a federal law and a pact with Britain to treat the Titanic as a sacred tomb, so entering the severed hull of this vessel could alter both the human remains that may still exist as well as the wreck. "RMST is not free to disregard this validly enacted federal law, yet that is its stated intent," the document states, according to the report.

The company explained that it intends to take images of the remains and take advantage of the spaces opened by the deterioration of the ship to drive a remotely operated vehicle inside without "interfering with the current structure."

RMST also indicated that they could recover artifacts, but only if the objects "are not affixed to the wreck itself." "The company does not intend to cut into the wreck or detach any part of the wreck," he added.

AP News said the legal battle has nothing to do with the submersible that imploded just over two months ago as it descended to the Titanic wreck.

Submarine accident

Titan, the submersible that went on an expedition to the Titanic wreck in June, belonged to Ocean Gate Expeditions, a company founded in 2009 that made tourist expeditions to the remains of the Titanic. The ship, designed in collaboration with NASA, imploded while on its tour, leaving five people dead.