Titanic sub victims knew their fate for a MINUTE before vessel popped like ‘balloon’: Expert reveals ‘horror, fear and agony’ as the five men were piled on top of each other in total darkness during 3,000ft nosedive
- A submarine expert said the Titan fell ‘like an arrow’ due to a power failure
- For a minute its passengers would have descended in total darkness, he says
- That rapid change of pressure would have caused the catastrophic implosion
The passengers that died on the Titan submersible would have been aware of the impending catastrophe for a minute before the implosion, an expert has said.
Spanish submarine expert José Luis Martín suggested the submersible lost stability due to an electrical failure that left it without propulsion, causing it to fall toward the seabed ‘like an arrow vertically’ with its porthole facing down.
He estimated that the sub began freefalling at a depth of around 5,600 feet and fell ‘as if it were a stone and without any control’ for about 3,000 feet until at around 8,600 feet it ‘popped like a balloon’ due to the rapidly changing pressure.
Martin suggested the passengers would have been piled on top of each other in terrifying total darkness throughout the fall, which would have lasted between 48 and 71 seconds.
The Titan submersible lost communications with its support vessel on Sunday, June 18, during a descent to the wreck of the Titanic 12,500 feet beneath the surface.
Days later, its debris was recovered. It was said to have suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion’.
Tourists Hamish Harding, 58, Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, French Navy pilot Paul-Henry (PH) Nargeolet and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush all died on the submersible.
Spanish submarine expert José Luis Martín said the Titan fell ‘like an arrow vertically’ due to a power failure and a loss of stability
The sub would have descended to more than 5,000 feet in the pictured orientation until losing stability and falling ‘vertically like an arrow’, with the porthole facing down and the passengers piled on top of it
Martin offered his theory as to how the submersible failed during an interview with Spanish newspaper Nius.
‘The starting point is that the submarine is descending without any incident and in a horizontal plane until it reached about 1,700 meters (5,500 feet).
‘At that point, there was an electrical failure. It was left without an engine and without propulsion. That’s when it lost communication with the Polar Prince,’ he told the newspaper.
He then suggested that the lack of propulsion would have caused it to lose stability and begin descending rapidly.
‘The Titan changed position and fell like an arrow vertically, because the 400 kilos of passengers that were in the porthole compromised the submarine. They all rushed and crowded on top of each other,’ Martín added.
‘Imagine the horror, the fear and the agony. It must have been like a horror movie.’
Due to the depth and the lack of both natural light and electricity, the group would have been in total darkness as they sank toward the bottom of the Atlantic, he said.
Five people had been on board, including British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding (left) and Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, who was just 19
French Navy veteran PH Nargeolet (left) was on the sub along with Stockton Rush (right), CEO of the OceanGate Expedition
Salvaged pieces of the Titan submersible from OceanGate are returned to St. John’s harbor in Newfoundland, Canada, on June 28
A view of the Horizon Arctic ship, as salvaged pieces of the Titan submersible from OceanGate Expeditions are returned on June 28
‘In that period of time they are realizing everything. And what’s more, in complete darkness. It’s difficult to get an idea of what they experienced in those moments. After those 48 seconds, or one minute, the implosion and instantaneous sudden death occur,’ he said.
Martin compared the implosion to ‘puncturing a balloon’ and said it was not caused by depth alone but the sudden increase in pressure as the sub descended like a dart.
The submersible lost contact with the mothership about 105 minutes into its dive and about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland in Canada.
The US Coast Guard confirmed the victims’ deaths four days later and an investigation into the implosion is ongoing.
On June 18, the OceanGate sub was launched around 8am in the Atlantic Ocean above the site of the Titanic shipwreck.
The five passengers started to descend as Rush piloted the vessel. At 9:45am it lost contact with its mothership, the Polar Prince.
OceanGate Expeditions took eight hours to report the missing sub to the US Coast Guard after it lost contact.
That led to a massive international response to rescue the five passengers. Ships from across the globe started to make the trek to help search for the missing sub while the hours and estimated oxygen ticked down.
Days later, it was announced the five people aboard the sub were believed to have been killed in a likely implosion.
It was also revealed that a US Navy monitoring system picked up a possible sound of the implosion in the descent – but search efforts continued.
After announcing the death of the five passengers, it was later revealed that debris form the imploded sub was found near the site of the Titanic.
Canadian police are considering whether ‘criminal, federal, or provincial laws’ were broken in the lead up to the Titan submersible disaster.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are examining ‘the circumstances that led to the deaths’ of the five crew on board the sub and decide ‘whether or not a full investigation is warranted’.
Their investigation started at the end of June, a day after it emerged human remains were found during the recovery mission and segments of the vessel were brought ashore.
Superintendent Kent Osmond, of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said a team of investigators has been established with the ‘sole purpose’ of determining whether a criminal investigation would be warranted.
‘Such an investigation will proceed only if our examination of the circumstances indicate criminal, federal or provincial laws may possibly have been broken,’ he said.
‘Following the US Coast Guard’s announcement earlier this week that debris from the submersible was located and all five on board were presumed dead, we will now look at the circumstances that led to those deaths.
‘Our investigators are engaged and active in this matter as of this morning. Once a determination has been made as to whether or not a full investigation will be launched, we will provide an update at that time.’
A view of OceanGate equipment within the boatyard at the Port of Everett complex on June 22
Families of the Titan submersible victims could sue its operator OceanGate, the maker of the vessel and companies that provided parts, legal experts have said.
Lawyers said relatives could seek damages from any outside parties involved in the Titan’s construction if they were found to be negligent and a cause of the implosion.
Experts say wrongful death and negligence lawsuits could be filed by families of the victims. The five passengers who died are thought to have been asked to sign liability waivers before they boarded the vessel.
The waiver said that passengers could experience physical injury, disability, emotional trauma and death while on board the Titan.
That waiver could play a big role in legal action as families consider their options, but a major complicating factor is that the disaster happened in international waters.
Legal experts say the implosion occurred ‘basically in a regulatory no man’s land’ and jurisdiction will be hard to establish both for the families and the investigations.
Any disputes relating to the waivers would likely be governed by the laws of the Bahamas, where OceanGate is registered – but families could also try to declare the waiver to be invalid in the US and bring a lawsuit there, or in their home countries.
US legal expert Dr. Nick Oberheiden, of Federal-lawyer.com, said families could win more than $100million if they sue OceanGate – and could choose to pursue it as a group claim, which might improve their chances of winning by sharing resources.
A statement from OceanGate is posted at the entrance of the firm’s base at the Port of Everett
A CBS reporter who made the trip with OceanGate Expeditions in July 2022 reported that the waiver he signed mentioned the possibility of death three times on the first page alone.
Legal experts said what the investigation into the disaster uncovers will determine much about any legal case from families, including what caused the vessel to implode.
Liability waivers – sometimes referred to as release forms – are typical before doing recreational activities that carry some measure of risk, such as sky diving or scuba diving.
By signing the document, passengers generally accept the risk and dangers related to the activity and if they are injured, absolve the company’s owner of liability.
Matthew Shaffer, a trial lawyer with the maritime personal injury law firm Schechter, Shaffer and Harris, said the forms are commonplace before doing any kind of ‘ultra-hazardous recreational activity.’
‘A good release will cover any and all potential harm and you are going to spell it out in simple language as possible,’ he said.
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