Chilling new footage has been shared showing the crumpled wreckage of the crew compartment of the Titan submersible, where five people died.
The Titan submersible, which was operated by OceanGate, lost contact with its mothership, the Polar Prince, approximately one hour and 45 minutes into its descent toward the Titanic wreck site in June 2023.
After days of searching, it was confirmed that the vessel had imploded killing all five people on board – OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, British explorer Hamish Harding, French diving expert Paul Henri Nargeolet, British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood.
Now, as an investigation into the tragedy continues, new footage has been shared showing what was left of the crew compartment where all five men lost their lives.
New footage released by the US Coast Guard has shown the moment a remotely operated underwater camera found the front portion of the Titan submersible, which had suffered the catastrophic implosion.
Earlier, it had released footage of the tail end of the sub standing on the ocean floor, which had appeared remarkably intact.
The rear part of the sub was seen with wires hanging out of it, though the exterior casing was pretty intact, with the OceanGate logo and the name of the vessel – Titan – clearly visible on the side.
However, new footage has now been released showing the front of the submersible where the five passengers would have been seated, which had suffered a vastly different fate.
The dome-shaped ‘nose’ of the submersible could be seen lying on the ocean floor, while the pressure hull that had housed the crew was unrecognizable.
See the footage below:
The main body of the submersible had been completely flattened by the intense pressure, with the implosion reportedly happening instantaneously.
The reason that the tail cone was so intact compared to the hull was that the compartment that housed the crew was pressurized while the tail, which contained its life support system, was not.
The pressure hull was also largely comprised of carbon fiber, which has been cited as a potential cause of the fatal implosion as it it not considered strong enough to withstand the pressure at such depths of water as other materials would be, such as titanium.
A hearing into the cause of the tragedy is ongoing, and has seen many people who were involved with OceanGate and the Titan speaking out to criticize CEO Stockton Rush – who also died on board – for ignoring their warnings about the safety of the vessel.
OceanGate’s former engineering director Tony Nissen, who was fired in 2019, testified at the hearing that he was allegedly let go after protesting that the Titan’s hull was unsafe.
The hearing is expected to last for two weeks, during which time more evidence is set to be presented.