The harrowing story of the OceanGate Titan submersible is back in the news, with footage relating to the chilling June 2023 incident again grabbing headlines. This time, it's the moment that OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush's wife heard the fatal implosion that cost the lives of all five on board.
As we approach the third anniversary of the Titan incident, it seems that we'll never truly know what went wrong as the crew of seasoned divers and tourists alike attempted to explore the wreck of the RMS Titanic in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.
Led by OceanGate’s American CEO, Stockton Rush, the rest included deep-sea explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, British businessman Hamish Harding, Pakistani-British businessman Shahzada Dawood, and his son, Suleman.
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Although the submersible had regularly made the two-hour descent to the wreck's final resting place some 3,810 meters beneath the surface, the Titan sub lost contact with its support ship 93 minutes in.
It was originally unclear what had happened, and with the experts and media alike unsure whether the crew were trapped down there, the race was on to try and rescue them before their 96 hours of oxygen ran out. As the world scrambled to mobilize on this remote area of the world, little did we know that the Titan sub had seemingly imploded and led to a debris field just 500m from the bow of the ill-fated ship.
What makes this even more tragic is that OceanGate director Wendy Rush seemingly noticed the moment the Titan sub imploded, with the mention of a 'distinguishable' noise as she monitored it from a vessel at the top of the ocean. In footage from the US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation that was shared via the BBC, Wendy Rush is heard saying, "What was that bang?"
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The USCG says that Rush noticing the noise was then followed by a message from the sub stating that it had 'dropped two weights', meaning they assumed things were progressing as normal.
Sadly, as the message has been delayed, the 'bang' that Wendy Rush heard is thought to be the fatal moment the sub imploded. This means the two-weight message was the last one received from the Titan submersible.
The footage was released from the USCG investigation and is being used in a May 27 documentary called Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster. The video has also been presented as evidence to the USCG Marine Board of Investigation, with it having spent two years looking into what really went wrong all those thousands of meters down. Elsewhere in the documentary, it's claimed that the Titan sub's carbon fibre hull started to break apart even before it went on that deadly dive.
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US Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Katie Williams said: "Delamination at dive 80 was the beginning of the end. Everyone that stepped onboard the Titan after dive 80 was risking their life."
The June 2023 dive was the 88th, and ultimately the last for Stockton Rush, the rest of those on board, the Titan sub, and OceanGate itself.