Titan catastrophic implosion: US Coast Guard confirmed Titan submersible was crushed, and all 5 victims were killed

According to the US Coast Guard, The Titan sub was presumed that it was under "catastrophic" pressure. Titan's debris discovered on the ocean floor shows that the Titan submersible went missing and landed 1,600 feet away from the Titanic wreck.

The US Coast Guard (USCG) said on June 22 that all five victims of the missing Titan submersible were killed, in what appeared to be a "terrible explosion."

Confirmations of five dead

According to Rear Admiral John Mauger,  a commander of the First Coast Guard District: Following this conclusion, we immediately notify the families (of the victims on the Titan submersible). On behalf of the U.S. Coast Guard and the entire Joint Command, he extended his deepest condolences to the families.

The remaining ill-fated passengers are British billionaire and adventurer Hamish Harding, 58, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and 19-year-old son Suleman, both British citizens and national oceanographer France and famous Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77 years old who visited the Titanic's wreck dozens of times.

Meanwhile, OceanGate paid tribute to the Titanic explorers: “These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans.Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew."

Also on June 22, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly announced that the British government would support the families of the victims of the Titan ship accident, and expressed deep condolences. On Twitter, Mr. Cleverly expressed his feeling: "Horrible news that those on board Titan, including 3 British nationals, have died... The UK Government will support the families affected and would like to express our condolences."

Evidence of Titan submersible explosion

Titan submersible owned by Ocean Gate - a private company specializing in operating and providing ocean exploration services - lost contact completely after nearly 2 hours carrying the above 5 victims to the bottom of the ocean with the aim of visiting the wreck of the Titanic on June 18. Rear Admiral Mauger said it was too early to know exactly when the Titan crashed, and if the implosion happened at the same moment that the sub lost contact with its mothership.

Rescue teams on June 22 confirmed that an underwater search robot had discovered "debris" near the wreck of the Titanic while searching for the missing Titan submersible with five victims. 

The wreckage from the Titan submersible was about 488 meters from the bow of the Titanic, at a depth of nearly 4,000 meters in the North Atlantic. But the relative location of the wreckage near the wreck of the Titanic and the time of last contact with Titan seem to suggest the problem occurred as the ship was about to land on the seabed on June 18.

According to officials, five main fragments of the 6.7-meter-long submersible, including the stern and two parts of the pressure-resistant compartment, were found among the debris left after the ship was crushed. 

The debris indicates that a catastrophic crushing occurred in the vessel's pressurized compartment, Mauger said. The pressurized compartment was where the five people on board the Titan sat, but the US Coast Guard did not say whether they found the body. The USCG tweeted: "Experts at Joint Command are evaluating information."

Hope for the lives of 5 victims

Earlier, hopes were ignited when the US Department of Homeland Security announced that a Canadian P-8 aircraft participating in the search had heard repeated knocks every 30 minutes. The sonar system was deployed 4 hours later, and they am still hearing these sounds. The search team had placed sonar buoys underwater for more than three days in the area without detecting any loud, violent noises that could be made when the submersible was crushed.

The sonar picked up some noises on June 20 and 21, raising hopes that the Titan was intact and the people on it were trying to communicate by hitting the hull. However, the analysis showed that the sound could be coming from other ships or something else, or it could be ntural noise."There doesn't seem to be any connection between the noise and the location of the debris on the seafloor," Mauger said.

According to him, the search team and the ship will soon leave the scene after a four-day multinational operation, but the autonomous vehicles will continue to collect evidence on the seabed. It was not immediately clear if the bodies could be recovered, given the nature of the crash and the harsh conditions at that depth.

The wrecks of the haunted Titanic and the submarine Titan

In 1912, the famous ship Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage from England to New York (USA) with 2,224 passengers and crew on board. More than 1,500 people died in the tragedy. The wreck is located at a depth of about 3,800m on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

The submersible Titan went missing on June 18 while carrying five people on a tour of the wreck of the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, about 600 km from Newfoundland, Canada. According to the company's website, the undersea expedition to the wreck of the Titanic was being carried out by OceanGate in 2021, priced at $250,000 per person.

Since the wreck of the Titanic was found in 1985, many tourists and professional divers have toured the wreck at a high cost. To see the wreck of the Titanic firsthand, a tourist must spend $ 250,000 for Ocean Gate - according to the price announced last year.

Why did the Titan explode after just a few hours in the water?

The answer that many experts give is that the pressure under the ocean is too great. According to the scientific journal Scientific American, if the submarine Titan were near the wreck of the Titanic, it would experience a higher pressure than the bite of an enormous white shark.

Dr Nicolai Roterman - a marine ecologist and lecturer in marine biology at the University of Portsmouth (UK) explained to Forbes magazine that when at a depth of more than 3,000m, the Titan ship was subjected to more than 374 atmospheres of pressure in the ocean. While the pressure that humans experience from the atmosphere at sea level is only 1 atm.

According to the doctor, if the submarine breaks down, the people on board are directly subjected to these pressures, they will die immediately. "If there is any puncture in the hull, the people on board will immediately succumb to the ocean," he added.

Mr. Stefan B. Williams - professor of marine robotics at the University of Sydney (Australia) told The Conversation that an explosion could have been caused by the failure of the pressure regulator on the Titan ship.

“Although the hull of the Titan is made of composite materials that can withstand extreme pressure in the deep sea, any defect in the shape or structure of the vessel can affect the pressure resistance. its. And the risk of exploding is very high," he said.

Professor William told The Guardian that "a failure of the pressure system" would be like "a small bomb exploding". Sharing the same opinion with the above experts, a veteran of the US Navy - Dr. Dale Molé said that the submarine exploded because the pressure outside was too great compared to the pressure inside the ship.

He said the pressure chamber - the system that controls pressure and supplies gas to the occupants of the ship had failed, possibly due to a leak, power failure or short circuit causing the fire.

According to the US Navy, the passengers on board were presumed dead when the ship exploded. The next task of the functional forces is to find and recover the victim's body.