Titanic sub victims knew their fate for a minute before 3,000ft nosedive, expert says

The passengers who died on the submarine Titan would have been aware of the approaching catastrophe a minute before the implosion, an expert said.

Spanish submarine expert José Luis Martín suggested that the submarine lost stability due to an electrical failure that left it without propulsion, causing it to fall “like a vertical arrow” to the sea floor with the porthole pointing down.

He estimated that the submarine started at a depth of about 1600 feet in free fall and fell about 3000 feet “like a stone and without any control” until at about 2500 feet it “popped like a balloon” due to the rapidly changing pressure . .

Martin suggested that the passengers would have piled on top of each other in terrifying total darkness during the fall, which would have lasted between 48 and 71 seconds.

The submarine Titan lost communication with its support ship on Sunday, June 18, while descending to the wreckage of the Titanic 12,500 feet below the surface.

Days later after the debris was recovered, it was said to have suffered a “catastrophic implosion.”

Tourists Hamish Harding, 58, Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, French Navy pilot Paul-Henry (PH) Nargeolet and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush all died on the submarine.

Martin presented his theory of how the submarine failed during an interview with the Spanish newspaper Nius.

‘The starting point is that the submarine descends without incident and in a horizontal plane to about 1,700 meters (5,500 feet).

“At that time there was a power outage. It was left without an engine and without propulsion. Then it lost communication with the Polar Prince,” he told the paper.

He then suggested that the lack of propulsion would have caused it to lose stability and begin to descend rapidly.

The Titan changed position and plummeted vertically like an arrow as the 400 kilos of passengers sitting in the porthole endangered the submarine. They all hurried and crowded on each other,’ Martín added.

“Imagine the horror, the fear, and the pain. It must have been like a horror movie.’

Because of the depth and lack of both natural light and electricity, the group would have been in total darkness as they sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, he said.

‘In that time they realize all sorts of things. And moreover in complete darkness. It’s hard to get a sense of what they went through in those moments. After those 48 seconds, or one minute, the implosion and immediate sudden death occurs,” he said.

Martin compared the implosion to “piercing a balloon,” saying it was caused not just by the depth, but by the sudden increase in pressure as the submarine came down like an arrow.

The submarine lost contact with the mother ship after about 105 minutes of diving and about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland in Canada.

The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed the victims’ deaths four days later and an investigation into the implosion is ongoing.

On June 18, the OceanGate submarine was launched into the Atlantic Ocean at about 8 a.m. over the site of the Titanic shipwreck.

The five passengers began to descend while Rush piloted the ship. At 09:45 it lost contact with its mothership, the Polar Prince.

OceanGate Expeditions took eight hours to report the missing submarine to the US Coast Guard after it lost contact.

That sparked a massive international response to rescue the five passengers. Ships from around the world began making the journey to help search for the missing submarine as the hours and estimated oxygen ticked.

Days later, it was announced that the five people aboard the submarine would have died in a probable implosion.

It was also revealed that a US Navy tracking system picked up a possible noise from the implosion during descent, but search efforts continued.

After the announcement of the five passengers’ deaths, it was later revealed that debris from the imploded submarine had been found near the Titanic’s site.

Canadian police are considering whether “criminal, federal or provincial laws” were broken in the run-up to the Titan submarine disaster.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are investigating “the circumstances leading to the deaths” of the five crew members aboard the submarine and are deciding “whether or not a full investigation is warranted.”

Their investigation started at the end of June, a day after human remains were found during the recovery mission and parts of the ship were brought ashore.

Chief Inspector Kent Osmond, of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said a team of investigators has been set up for the “sole purpose” of determining whether a criminal investigation is warranted.

“Such an investigation will only proceed if our investigation of the circumstances indicates that criminal, federal or provincial laws may have been violated,” he said.

“Following the U.S. Coast Guard’s announcement earlier this week that debris from the submarine had been found and that all five occupants were presumed dead, we will now look at the circumstances leading up to those deaths.

“Our detectives have been involved and active in this case since this morning. Once it has been determined whether or not a full investigation will be launched, we will provide an update at that time.”

Families of the Titan’s submarine victims could sue operator OceanGate, the ship’s maker and companies that supplied parts, legal experts have said.

Lawyers said family members could seek damages from outside parties involved in the Titan’s construction if they were found to be negligent and the cause of the implosion.

Experts say lawsuits for wrongful death and negligence can be brought by families of the victims. The five passengers who died were allegedly asked to sign liability waivers before boarding the ship.

The waiver said that passengers aboard the Titan could experience physical harm, disability, emotional trauma and death.

That waiver could play a big role in legal action as families weigh their options, but one major complicating factor is that the disaster occurred in international waters.

Legal experts say the implosion happened “actually in a regulatory limbo” and that jurisdiction will be difficult to establish, both for the families and for the investigations.

Any disputes related to the waivers will likely be governed by the laws of the Bahamas, where OceanGate is registered, but families may also seek to void the waivers in the US and sue there or in their own country.

American legal expert Dr. Federal-lawyer.com’s Nick Oberheiden said families could win more than $100 million if they sued OceanGate — and choose to pursue it as a class claim, which could increase their chances of winning by sharing resources.

A CBS reporter who made the trip with OceanGate Expeditions in July 2022 reported that the waiver he signed mentioned the possibility of death three times on the first page alone.

Legal experts said what the investigation into the disaster uncovers will determine much about any family lawsuit, including what caused the ship to implode.

Liability waivers — sometimes called release forms — are typical for doing recreational activities that involve some degree of risk, such as skydiving or scuba diving.

By signing the document, passengers generally accept the risk and hazards associated with the activity, and if they are injured, they release the company owner from liability.

Matthew Shaffer, a litigator with the marine personal injury law firm of Schechter, Shaffer and Harris, said the forms are commonplace before engaging in any kind of “ultra-hazardous recreational activity.”

“A good release covers all possible damage and you’re going to describe it as simply as possible,” he said.