The first people to dive down to the Titanic in nearly 15 years say some of the wreck is deteriorating rapidly.

Over the course of five submersible dives, an international team of deep-sea explorers surveyed the sunken ship, which lies 3,800m down in the Atlantic.

While parts of the wreck were in surprisingly good condition, other features had been lost to the sea.

The worst decay was seen on the starboard side of the officers' quarters.

Titanic historian Parks Stephenson said some of what he saw during the dive was "shocking".

"The captain's bathtub is a favourite image among Titanic enthusiasts - and that's now gone," he said.

"That whole deck house on that side is collapsing, taking with it the state rooms. And that deterioration is going to continue advancing."

The RMS Titanic has been underwater for more than 100 years, lying about 600km (370 miles) off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

The passenger liner, which was the largest ship of its time, hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in 1912. Of the 2,200 passengers and crew onboard, more than 1,500 died.

The dives took place in a 4.6m-long, 3.7m-high submersible - called the DSV Limiting Factor - which was built by the US-based company Triton Submarines.