Disaster at the OceanGate Titan: what happened and who weighed in
The wreck of the Titan submersible, lost during a voyage to the Titanic site, was located in the Atlantic on June 22. Reports this week indicate that the crew endured a quick, painless end, and that recovery of the bodies is unlikely, according to experts interviewed by a television network.
Florida International University professor Eileen Maria Marty described the hull’s destruction as occurring in an almost instantaneous moment, a fraction of a millisecond. She noted that the event likely unfolded before anyone inside could grasp that a problem existed. The conclusion she reached was that the crew’s deaths were nearly instant and without pain [NBC].
In contrast, Blair Thornton, a professor at the University of Southampton, compared the pressure spike during the disaster to a Titanic collapse being dropped into a bathtub, underscoring the extreme forces at play even in a tightly designed vehicle [CBS].
Roderick Smith of Imperial College London added that if carbon fiber components are recovered, researchers could work backward to understand the sequence of events. He pointed out that carbon fiber can fail due to internal defects and that the joints between carbon fiber and titanium require careful examination to reveal failure modes [BBC].
Smith also suggested that the explosion could be so violent that reconstructing the order of events becomes very difficult, complicating investigations into the cause [The Guardian].
Nikolai Shabalin, director of the Naval Research Center at Moscow State University, cited by TASS, indicated that the loss might involve several accumulated issues, including hull integrity, which could contribute to a catastrophic failure over time. The statement framed the incident as a culmination of multiple potential defects rather than a single flaw.
Where the Titanic sank and who was aboard
The Titan’s loss became public on June 18. The submersible, designed to bring tourists to the famed wreck, carried billionaire Hamish Harding, OceanGate founder Stockton Rush, veteran diver Paul-Henri Narjolet, and businessman Shahzada Davud with his son Suleman [NBC].
The Titanic itself lies about 600 kilometers off the coast of Newfoundland, at a depth of roughly 3,800 meters, where it has rested since the night of April 15, 1912 after hitting an iceberg. The tragedy remains a symbol of caution about deep-sea travel and the limits of human engineering at extreme depths [ABC].
Communication with the crew stopped, and calculations indicated that the oxygen supply would be exhausted by June 22 at 14:08 Moscow time. After the wreckage was located, all aboard were declared dead [CNN].
In 2022, reports noted cyclic fatigue in the Titan, highlighting ongoing concerns about longevity and repeated use under deep-sea conditions [NBC].
Will Kohnen, president of the Marine Technology Association, emphasized that the submersible was not certified for deep dives. He highlighted that only a handful of privately certified divers can reach depths of 4,000 meters or more, and underlined safety gaps that needed attention [CBC].
The company’s leadership argued that safety remained central to OceanGate Expeditions, though the absence of universal deep-water regulations in the United States complicates oversight. Guillermo Sonlein, a co-founder, described the field as lacking robust, current safety rules for deep-water craft and suggested many guidelines were outdated. He noted that expert teams would continue collecting data over days, weeks, or even months to determine the full sequence of events [Guard].
According to Guard, OceanGate Expeditions has transported around 60 tourists and 20 researchers to the Titanic site since 2021, underscoring the scale of operations and the potential for risk in this niche field [Guard].