Chilling Words of OceanGate CEO: Uncovering the Tragic Implosion of the Titan Submersible
The Daily Mail has obtained footage released by the US Coastguard that shows the wife of OceanGate’s CEO, Stockton Rush, reacting to the moment the Titan submersible imploded, killing her husband and four others on board. The tragic incident occurred on June 18, 2023, during a descent to the wreck of the Titanic, which lies approximately 3,700 meters below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.
According to the Daily Mail, new footage shows Wendy Rush, the wife of Stockton Rush, trying to contact the doomed crew during their descent. She can be seen reacting to a noise that sounded like a ‘door slamming’ and turns to a team member sitting behind her, asking ‘what was that bang?’ The Daily Mail reports that investigators now believe the ‘bang’ she heard was the moment the sub imploded.
The Daily Mail states that the video of Mrs Rush is being used as evidence in the two-year long investigation by the US Coastguard Marine Board into the sub’s catastrophic failure. The investigation is focused on determining the cause of the tragedy and examining the company’s processes, as well as conducting industry-wide safety reviews.
The Daily Mail reports that all five people on board were instantly killed in the tragedy. The victims included OceanGate co-founder Mr Rush, adventurer Hamish Harding, father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, as well as Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet. The passengers had paid $250,000 to see the wreck of the Titanic.
The Daily Mail notes that it is believed the vessel imploded around 90 minutes into its descent, with its wreckage later found 330 yards away from the bow of the ship. The new video footage released by the US Coastguard comes after the sub’s haunting final moments were also revealed earlier this year in a sound clip.
According to the Daily Mail, the audio, which detected an ominous noise from around 900 miles away, was captured from a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration device. The US Coastguard reported in February that the sound was the ‘suspected acoustic signature’ of the vessel’s implosion.
The Daily Mail reports that the submersible suddenly lost contact with its support vessel, Polar Prince, after just about an hour and 45 minutes into the two-and-a-half hour descent. One of the last messages from the crew to Polar Prince before the submersible imploded stated, ‘all good here,’ according to a visual re-creation presented at a Coast Guard hearing last year.
The Daily Mail states that following the tragedy, questions emerged about the safety of the submersible, which had been making voyages to the Titanic wreckage site going back to 2021. It was later revealed that the vessel was being operated by a video game controller, and leaders in the field of deep-sea exploration had even warned Mr Rush five years earlier that the company’s ‘experimental’ methods could end in ‘catastrophic’ disaster.
The Daily Mail notes that others inside the company also expressed concerns, including David Lochridge, who worked as the Titan project’s director of marine operations. He had demanded more rigorous safety checks on the sub, including ‘testing to prove its integrity.’
The Daily Mail reports that Lochridge also wanted the company to carry out a scan of Titan’s hull to ‘detect potential flaws’ rather than ‘relying on acoustic monitoring’ – which would only detect an issue ‘milliseconds before an implosion.’ However, he was unceremoniously booted from the company in the aftermath, as Rush continually brushed off the concerns.
The Daily Mail states that Rush went as far as saying he was ‘tired of industry players who try to use a safety argument to stop innovation’ as he appeared resentful of the ‘obscenely safe’ regulations he viewed as an obstacle to development and innovation.
The Daily Mail reports that by September last year, the US Coastguard conducted public hearings to grill company executives on what may have gone wrong. At the hearing, Karl Stanley, a submersible pilot and designer of the Roatan Institute of Deepsea Exploration, claimed Rush was more concerned with leaving ‘his mark on history’ than keeping his passengers safe.
The Daily Mail notes that Stanley testified that he had tried to flag safety concerns he noticed during a test drive in April 2019, including cracking noises and issues with drop weights. He emailed Rush, who dismissed the concerns.
The Daily Mail reports that OceanGate, based in Washington state, suspended its operations after the implosion. The company has no full-time employees currently, but was represented by an attorney during the hearing. The company said it has been fully co-operating with the Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board investigations since they began.
The Daily Mail states that the BBC will air a documentary titled "Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster" on Tuesday, May 27, at 9 pm, which will also be available on BBC iPlayer.
