Just over a year after the Titan implosion, the first photograph of the OceanGate submersible sitting at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean was shared. The US Coast Guard shared the image on Monday (September 16) as investigators opened a hearing into the Titanic expedition that killed five people.
In the new picture, the broken tail cone of OceanGate’s Titan can be seen on the hazy blue floor of the vast ocean.
Highlights
- First photo of OceanGate's Titan sub sitting at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean was released by the US Coast Guard.
- The Marine Board of Investigation hearing is the Coast Guard's highest inquiry level, reserved for major incidents involving multiple deaths.
- The wreckage of the submersible was found several hundred yards from the Titanic after days of searching.
- NASA, Boeing, University of Washington experts are participating in the investigation.
The tail cone was severed from the rest of the vessel, its edges ragged, while a ripped fragment of the vessel is seen nearby, CNN reported on Monday.
The wreckage of the submersible was reportedly found several hundred yards (between 180 and 270 meters) from the location of the Titanic after days of searching.
Investigators revealed the news details at the hearing, which is taking place in North Charleston, South Carolina, USA and is expected to run until September 27.
Just over a year after the Titan implosion, new footage has emerged
Image credits: VidaPress
The ongoing hearing into the Titan submersible implosion, which began on September 16, 2024, was convened by Vice Adm. Peter W. Gautier of the US Coast Guard.
This formal Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) hearing is the Coast Guard's highest level of inquiry, reserved for major incidents involving multiple fatalities.
The focus is on examining all aspects of the incident, including pre-accident events, mechanical systems, regulatory compliance, and emergency response.
Several parties are involved, including witnesses such as former employees of OceanGate, the company that developed the Titan, along with experts from NASA, Boeing, and the University of Washington.
Image credits: Gordon Leggett / Wikimedia Commons
In its opening presentation, the MBI said the tail cone and other debris were located by a remotely operated vehicle on June 22 last year, providing “conclusive evidence” the submersible experienced a catastrophic implosion – a sudden inward collapse caused by immense pressure, as per CNN.
The accident claimed the lives of Stockton Rush, the founder and CEO of the vessel’s operator; businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood; adventurer Hamish Harding; and French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
Remains found were matched to the five men on board through DNA testing and analysis, the MBI confirmed Monday.
The presentation on Monday also reportedly revealed the submersible’s final message – just six seconds before it lost contact with the surface.
The first image of the OceanGate submersible sitting at the bottom of North Atlantic Ocean was shared
Image credits: OceanGateExpeditions
“Dropped two wts,” the Titan’s text to its mother ship read, referring to weights the submersible could shed in hopes of returning to the surface, according to CNN.
Seconds later, the Titan was “pinged” for the last time, and the mother ship lost track of the vessel.
The hearing will reportedly include “pre-accident historical events, regulatory compliance, crew member duties and qualifications, mechanical and structural systems, emergency response and the submersible industry,” the Coast Guard has previously said.
While the hearing’s main aim is to “uncover the facts surrounding the incident,” board chair Jason Neubauer acknowledged Monday that the group is also tasked with identifying “misconduct or negligence by credential mariners.”
Image credits: Pelagic Services
Neubauer added: “And if there’s any detection of a criminal act, we would make a recommendation to the Department of Justice.”
On August 6, 2024, Nargeolet's family sued OceanGate for wrongful death, arguing that “They knew they were going to die.” The French explorer’s family is seeking over $50 million.
Nargeolet’s family alleged the crew experienced “terror” before the disaster and accused the sub’s operator of gross negligence.
“The crew may well have heard the carbon fiber’s crackling noise grow more intense as the weight of the water pressed on Titan’s hull,” the legal document read.
The US Coast Guard shared the image on Monday (September 16)
Image credits: uscg
The Nargeolets’ lawsuit further claimed: “The crew lost communications and perhaps power as well.
“By experts’ reckoning, they would have continued to descend, in full knowledge of the vessel’s irreversible failures, experiencing mental anguish prior to the Titan ultimately imploding.”
Tony Buzbee, attorney for the case, explained that the case seeks to “get answers for the family as to exactly how this happened, who all were involved, and how those involved could allow this to happen.”
Image credits: U.S. Coast Guard
Other elements of the suit include security concerns previously raised by Jaden Pan, a videographer who embarked on a dive aboard the Titan in July 2021.
Pan’s testimony, which came out a day after the debris was found, revealed that the vessel felt “unstable,” being controlled by a modified $30 Logitech F710 video game controller, and that communication with the surface ship, the MV Polar Prince, was intermittent.
The videographer’s account further revealed the carelessness of Stockton Rush, as eventually, the vessel experienced a critical battery failure, forcing Pan and the rest of the passengers to remain trapped in the submarine for 24 hours, waiting for its weights to dissolve naturally.
Image credits: OceanGateExpeditions
This account was directly referenced in the suit: “[The Titan] had a hip, contemporary, wireless electronics system, and states that none of the controller, controls or gauges would work without a constant source of power and a wireless signal.”
Industry experts had already warned about the Titan’s safety, but OceanGate had not sought certification for the vessel, arguing that regulatory compliance hindered innovation.
Investigators opened a hearing into the Titanic expedition that killed five people
Image credits: EddieGM
Rush’s disdain for safety measures was evident from as early as 2022. “At some point, safety is just pure waste,” he argued in an interview. “I mean, if you just want to be safe, don’t get out of bed. Don’t get in your car. Don’t do anything.”
The lawsuit ends by blaming the implosion on the “persistent carelessness, recklessness and negligence” of OceanGate, Rush, and others.
“Nargeolet may have died doing what he loved to do, but his death — and the deaths of the other Titan crew members — was wrongful.”
Titanic filmmaker James Cameron previously said the owners of OceanGate “broke the rules” and cost the lives of all five people inside.
Image credits: EddieGM
“We all knew they were dead. We’d already hoisted a toast to our fallen comrades on [the] Monday night,” he said in an interview with 60 Minutes Australia.
Cameron, who has completed more than 30 submersible dives to the Titanic wreck, slammed the search efforts that unnecessarily kept the world “waiting with bated breath.”
“It just transformed into this crazy thing,” he said. “Everybody running around with their hair on fire when we knew right where the sub was. Nobody could admit that they didn’t have the means to go down and look. So they were running all over the surface, and the entire world [was] waiting with bated breath.”
When asked about whether he believed the U.S. Coast Guard lied, he replied: “I don’t think they lied.”
Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood, were among the five victims
“I think they went by a procedure that was torturous for the family, unnecessarily torturous for the family,” he added.
“Now, could it have been something else? One in a trillion,” he also said about the implosion-like sound that came around the same time the sub lost connection with the host ship.
The Oscar-winning director is well-versed in underwater mysteries and made a record-breaking solo dive to 35,787 feet to the deepest point on Earth in 2012. He is also believed to have spent more time at the Titanic wreck than the captain of the ill-fated ship himself.
He slammed the OceanGate and said, “These guys broke the rules” with the creation of the Titan sub and by taking the passengers to the wreck without the required safety measures.
“They didn’t have classification. Theoretically, they should not have been legally allowed to carry passengers,” he added.
In June 2023, the OceanGate Titan submersible was on an expedition to the Titanic wreck, the world’s most famous shipwreck.
The vessel suffered a catastrophic implosion during its descent, killing all five individuals aboard and raising serious concerns about safety standards.
The Titan sub lost connection with its host ship merely hours after it began its descent on June 18, 2023.
Even though the sound of a suspected explosion or implosion was detected around the same time by the US Navy, the noise was deemed “not definitive,” and a widespread search involving the US, Germany, Britain, France, and Canada was carried out.
Paul-Henri Nargeolet's family sued OceanGate for wrongful death
Naval reports indicate that communication with the surface vessel ceased 1 hour and 45 minutes into its descent. This made it impossible to ascertain what the crew members might’ve talked about as the vessel failed.
Alarm bells rang when the submersible failed to resurface at the scheduled time. The US Navy’s sonar systems detected an acoustic signature consistent with an implosion around the time communications were lost, suggesting that the pressure hull had failed catastrophically.
Image credits: EddieGM
International teams then searched the wreckage for any indication of what might’ve happened, eventually finding the Titan’s debris on June 22, 2023.
The Titan was part of an ambitious project by OceanGate to monetize regular visits to the Titanic’s wreckage.
The cost of a trip to see the Titanic's wreckage on OceanGate's Titan submersible was $250,000 per person. This price did not include transportation to and from St. John's, Newfoundland, where the journey began and ended.
"It could have been avoided," a reader commented
