The US Coast Guard has released more footage of the wreckage
The US Coast Guard has released new footage of the Titan submersible wreckage which revealed the extent of the damage caused by the implosion.
Yesterday (17 September) the US Coast Guard shared previously unreleased footage of the sub’s final location after it imploded last June, killing all five passengers onboard.
The five passengers onboard the sub were OceanGate’s CEO Stockton Rush, the British explorer Hamish Harding, British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman, and veteran French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
The fate of the Titan submersible and those onboard is now back in the news once again as a hearing over the catastrophic implosion is ongoing, with new footage emerging alongside the devastating final words of the crew.
The sub prior to implosion (OceanGate/Becky Kagan Schott)
The latest footage to be released by the US Coast Guard reveals the fate of the submersible’s front portion, which is filmed lying on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.
In the minute long clip we see what debris which resemble the sub’s door and front porthole lying on the seabed, with a further chunk of debris burrowed into the sand just a few feet away.
Check out the footage below:
Previous footage from the wreckage revealed the fate of the Titan’s back portion, with the aft tail cone sticking out of the ocean floor, 3,775m underwater.
The release of the footage has prompted many to question how large portions of the sub remain somewhat ‘intact’ given the fact that all passengers onboard met their end in the implosion.
Physics professor Arun Bansil of Northeastern University would later explain the likely reason for this in an interview with The Mirror.
“Although it seems counterintuitive, large objects do not normally split apart into smithereens in an implosion or explosion,” he said.
“For example, a pressure cooker usually explodes with the top blown off but the body remains intact. The initial failure of Titan would have occurred at its weakest links such as defects in the hull.
“Once a crack opens, however, large pieces of the hull will no longer experience very violent forces and remain more or less intact.”
New footage appears to show the front portion of the vessel (US Coast Guard)
Titan sub inquiry – everything we know from the investigation so far
A public hearing into the five deaths of the people onboard OceanGate’s ill-fated Titan submersible began on Monday (16 September).
It is expected to last two weeks.
Titan was ‘unregistered, non-certificated and unclassed’
The first day of the hearing heard how the submersible was built in 2020 and was ‘unregistered, non-certificated and unclassed’, as well as having no identification number.
The submersible’s hull was never subject to third-party checks and officials said it was left exposed to the elements, while in storage for seven months in 2022 and 2023.
Parts of Titan ‘bonded together using an adhesive’
In 2017, the year OceanGate announced it would be conducting trips to the Titanic, employees bonded together the submersible’s carbon fibre hull and titanium rings ‘using an adhesive’.
Titan found ‘partially sunk’ month before tragedy
During its 2023 expedition, the Titan was found ‘partially sunk’ in the ocean.
Image released of Titan debris on sea floor
An image showing debris, including the Titan’s tail cone, on the sea floor after the implosion was revealed.
Former OceanGate employee testifies
Ex-OceanGate Director of Marine Operations, David Lochridge testified that he felt there was a ‘push’ to launch the vessel.
“They were very push push push to get this out the door as fast as possible so they could start making profit,” he said at the hearing on Tuesday. Lochridge also testified that he had ‘had no confidence whatsoever’ in the Titan’s construction earlier in the day.
The hearing will continue later today (19 September) at 8.30am ET (13:30 BST).
Featured Image Credit: US Coast Guard
