EerieTitanWreck Footage Released That Helped Authorities Confirm Sub Had Imploded, Killing 5 Passengers

Mar. 15, 2025

“This video led to the conclusive evidence of the catastrophic loss of the submersibleTitanand the death of all five members aboard,” the Coast Guard wrote in a description of the footage.

Officials later also released another ROV clip showing theTitan’s “dome, aft ring, hull remnants and carbon fiber debris on the seafloor,” the Coast Guard said.

The five people aboard the submersible who died in the implosion were explorerPaul-Henri Nargeolet; adventurerHamish Harding; father and sonShahzada and Suleman Dawood; andStockton Rush, who co-founded OceanGate, the company operating the submersible.

Hamish Harding; Stockton Rush; Paul-Henri Nargeolet; Suleman Dawood; Shahzada Dawood.JOEL SAGET,HANDOUT/Dirty Dozen Productions/OceanGat/AFP via Getty Images

JOEL SAGET,HANDOUT/Dirty Dozen Productions/OceanGat/AFP via Getty Images

The release of the footage comes as Coast Guard officials launched hearings on theTitandisaster on Sept. 16 in North Charleston, S.C.

According to aMarine Board of Investigationreport, after the presumed human remains were recovered from theTitanocean floor site they were transported back to shore. Then the Air Force Medical Examiners System “positively identified DNA profiles for the five victims and the Rhode Island Medical Examiner matched the DNA profiles to the victims.”

The final messages from the doomed vehicle — which went into the water off the coast of Canada around 9:20 a.m. local time on June 18, 2023 — were also revealed during the hearing.

After over 40 minutes of communication, thePolar Princeinformed the submersible, “I need better comms from you,” to which theTitanreplied “yes” and said they temporarily “lost system oand [sic] chat settings.” The Coast Guard saidNargeoletis believed to have sent the messages.

ThePolar Princeagain asked, “status? do you see polar prince on your display?” And soon after, at 10:15 a.m., theTitanresponded “yes” and “all good here."

Then at 10:47 a.m., theTitansent another message, saying it had “dropped two wts,” referring to its weights, but seconds later it lost contact with the surface.

Multiple former OceanGate employees have already offered their testimonies. Tym Catterson,a contractor who was present when the submersible commenced its dive, said that he believes that in their final moments, theTitanpassengers would have “had no idea” an implosion was coming.

“What I found and what I feel is that the implosion happened instantaneously,” he said at the Sept. 16 hearing. He said that he believed it wasn’t the viewport (also known as windows or portholes) that “failed because there [were] no shards there.”

Catterson said he suspected the failure “happened at the forward glue line at the ring,” which would have had to “happen extraordinarily fast.”

“Which means the people in there, they had no idea this was coming. I just want to make sure you let the public know nobody was suffering in there,” he said during the hearing. “As a matter of fact, they were probably happy to say they were all waiting to see theTitanicwhen this happened.”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

David Lochridge, the company’s former operations director,testified on Tuesday, Sept. 17, about his concerns surrounding Rush and issues with the company’s submersible program.

Lochridge cited an episode from a 2016 voyage to the remains of theAndrea Doriavia theCyclopssubmersible, which carried himself, Rush and three paying passengers. He said Rush, who piloted theCyclops, crashed into the wreckage and had a panicked meltdown, which required the intervention of Lochridge, who later managed to regain control of the vehicle.

“Eventually it took one of the paying clients … she shouted at Stockton to ‘give me the f—ing controller.’ She had tears in her eyes,” Lochridge recalled. (During his testimony, he also commented on the widely discussed fact that OceanGate submersibles were controlled via PlayStation controllers.)

An OceanGate submersible.Ocean Gate / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Ocean Gate / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

AccordingtoThe New York Times, Lochridge was fired from OceanGate in 2018 as part of a falling-out after he expressed concerns about the company’s approach to diving, particularly its development of theTitansub.

Lochridge subsequently filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration,ABC News reported. Lochridge and OceanGate were tangled in dueling lawsuits that were later settled, per theTimes.

The Coast Guard earlier said that the hearings will “review testimony from technical experts, crew members, and other relevant parties, and will examine evidence related to the submersible’s design, operation, and safety protocols.” Investigators will then submit a final report upon conclusion.

source: people.com