Tourist Sub Titan Suffers 'Catastrophic Implosion,' Debris Found Near Titanic Wreck

In the hours and days that followed, Canadian and U.S. authorities launched a desperate search and rescue operation to locate the sub. They worked against the clock since Titan carried only a 97-hour supply of oxygen onboard – this, assuming it was still in one piece when communication was lost.

The end for Titan

It was probably not, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a press conference, some hours after the 97-hour deadline was crossed. On June 18, the U.S. Navy picked up an acoustic signature consistent with an implosion and relayed this information to the commanders of the search operation, who deemed it "not definitive." Hours later, sonar buoys picked up "bangs” at regular intervals, but authorities refrained from commenting on what they might have been. Some theorized that they could be SOS messages from the crew in the sub, while others believed it was the sound of debris coming off the nearby Titanic.

The U.S. Coast Guard is now saying that the acoustic signature is indicative of a "catastrophic implosion" of the sub, which is confirmed by the discovery of debris within that same area, near the bow of the Titanic. The search party has already located and retrieved large pieces from Titan, including the tail cone and the fore part of the hull.

All crew members have been pronounced dead. The search operation continues in the hope of retrieving their bodies and finding an answer to what happened to cause such a catastrophic event. There is a strong chance that loss of communication coincided with the implosion, which may have been caused by a leak.

OceanGate has confirmed the news and the identities of the five crew, praising them as pioneers, lamenting their fate, and sending condolences to the families. It did not address the safety fears that have come to light since the sub disappeared.

Was Titan safe?

The definitive answer to that question will come at the end of the ongoing investigation, but there are several red flags that point that OceanGate either rushed development on the sub or flat-out ignored safety issues signaled out by their own workers after its public debut.

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who was serving as pilot on the sub's last mission, often claimed that Titan was designed and engineered in partnership with Boeing, the University of Washington, and NASA. The first two supposed partners were quick to distance themselves from the project when the sub went missing.

The makeshift nature of Titan was also brought to light after its disappearance, though it failed to cause too many ripples when it was initially pointed out by CBS journalist David Pogue. Pogue went for a dive with Titan in the summer of 2022 and chatted with Rush about the build, obviously shocked to see that it was operated with a videogame controller, used scrap metal for ballast, used off-the-shelf components, and had a hull made out of an experimental mix of carbon fiber and Titan. For such a mighty submersible and such a high price tag, Titan seemed to cut too many corners.

Pogue's own dive was marked by extended loss of communication with the mothership. Losing communication emerged as a pattern in the days following the disappearance, just as did the fact that all those who boarded Titan were made aware repeatedly (including in the waivers they signed) that this was a highly risky and experimental dive – contrary to how it was marketed to the public.