Rescuers have found ‘five major’ parts of the Titan submarine that suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion’ 400 meters from the bow of the Titanic, killing all five on board.
A remote-controlled vehicle deployed by the Canadian ship Horizon Arctic found a debris field on the ocean floor containing parts of the tail cone and landing gear.
Authorities said they later learned that the discovered pieces also included the front and rear of the pressure hull, where the porthole would have allowed one of the doomed passengers to look out as the ship imploded.
It comes as former Royal Navy commander Ryan Ramsey said the debris will allow experts to analyze the structure of the fracture and possibly “summarize what really happened in those final moments.”
All five on board — including British explorer Hamish Harding, British businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman — were said to have died instantly without ever knowing there was a problem, naval experts say.
Vice Admiral John Mauger, who led the search, said the parts found in the debris field were “consistent with a catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber.”
Graphical representation of the parts of the Titan submarine found after ‘catastrophic implosion’
University student Suleman (left), 19, and his father Shahzada Dawood (right) were two of five victims who died instantly when the OceanGate submarine suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion’
British explorer Hamish Harding was among those killed in the ‘catastrophic implosion’
French Navy veteran PH Nargeolet (left) sat in the submarine with Stockton Rush (right), CEO of the OceanGate Expedition
The somber announcement ended a multi-national search and rescue operation that had gripped the world since the small tourist vessel went missing in the North Atlantic on Sunday.
Cdr Ramsey, who served in the Royal Navy’s submarine service for 23 years, said the pieces of the Titan that have been discovered will help uncover what happened to the submarine.
Ramsey compared the current investigation to an investigation into a crashed plane, telling the BBC: ‘There’s no black box, so you won’t be able to track the latest movements of the ship itself.
“But as many pieces of the vessel as they can, to get that back to the surface, and from there they should be able to analyze the fracture structure, any fractures that have occurred, and maybe summarize what’s really there.” happened in those last moments.’
The debris will be examined under a microscope and experts will try to find any breaks in the carbon fiber structure, which can help them pinpoint the exact spot where the break occurred.
Professor Roderick Smith, from Imperial College London, said the sheer force of the ‘catastrophic implosion’ means it could be difficult to make a timeline of what happened.
“Hence the need for retrieval and close investigation if possible,” he said.
Bobby Chacon, a retired FBI special agent and former leader of the FBI diving team, told CNN it would be impossible to know what happened “unless you recover most of the ship.” He said a remote-controlled vehicle could be able to bring up more parts of the submarine.
“The sooner they do that, the better, because the ocean changes things all the time. The tides and currents and the pressure of the ocean move things,” he said.
Search and rescue officials say the five men likely died on Sunday before military aircraft using sonar buoys detected what they say could be SOS sounds in the water.
“The implosion would have generated significant broadband noise that the sonar buoys would have picked up,” US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said at a news conference yesterday.
It would have been instant death for the men, some of whom paid £195,000 ($250,000) each to see the famous shipwreck.
Aileen Marty, a former naval officer and professor at Florida International University, said the implosion would have occurred at a speed of 1,500 miles per hour.
“It takes more — it takes about 0.25 more — for the human brain to realize it’s happening. So the whole thing would have collapsed before the individuals inside realized there was a problem,” Mr. Marty told CNN.
“They died in a way they didn’t even realize they were about to die. Among the many ways we pass, it’s ultimately painless.”
The small vessel and crew were protected by a pressurized chamber, a sealed pod that maintains internal pressure significantly above ambient pressure, a gas system to regulate internal pressure, and a supply of breathing gas for the occupants.
Dr. Dale Molé, the former director of submarine medicine and radiation health for the US Navy, said: “The pressure hull is the room where the occupants reside. It sounds like they had bottomed out when the pressure vessel imploded, and usually when it gives way, it gives way all at once.
“It sounds like it was the carbon fiber cylinder that gave way and resulted in the implosion.”
How the pressure chamber was breached remains unclear. But such an implosion could be the result of a leak, a power outage, or a small fire from an electrical short circuit.
What would have resulted would have been a violent and instantaneous implosion as the high pressure water rushed in from the outside, tearing away the tailgate and landing frame and tearing the submarine’s hull apart, crushing the inside.
Dr. Molé said, “They would have been ripped to shreds.
“An implosion is when the pressure wave is inward, while an explosion is when the pressure wave or the shock wave goes out from whatever source it is.”
He explained it like overinflating a balloon – the balloon will eventually pop if there is too much pressure.
In an implosion the opposite happens, when there is more external pressure than the container can take, then the inside collapses.
Dr. Molé said, “If someone steps on an empty soda can, it would support your weight, but if you then press on the sides, the can will immediately collapse.”
He added, “It’s just where the debris and fragments and everything else go in because of a strong external force. In this case it was the ocean.
At least at the depth of the Titanic, which is 12,500 feet, the external pressure would be 6,000 pounds per square inch. It is that pressure that, if there were a weakness in the hull, would cause the hull to collapse and suddenly create a shock wave. An implosion can certainly be just as destructive as an explosion.’
OceanGate, which has been documenting the decay of the Titanic and the underwater ecosystem around it through annual voyages since 2021, released a statement calling all five men killed “true explorers who have a clear spirit of adventure and a deep passion for exploring and protecting marine life.” shared the world’. oceans’.
It comes as it turned out that 19-year-old Suleman, who perished in the tragic “implosion,” was “terrified” of the trip and only joined the crew to please his dead for Father’s Day.
His heartbroken aunt, Azmeh Dawood, told NBC news that Suleman told a relative that he “wasn’t quite ready,” but felt compelled to please his father, who was very passionate about the 1912 shipwreck.
The older sister of Mr. Dawood, Vice Chairman of Engro Corporation, reportedly said with tears in his eyes, “I feel disbelief. It’s an unreal situation.’
Azmeh, who, like the other frightened family members, was hoping for a miracle, continued, “I feel like I got into a really bad movie, with a countdown, but you didn’t know what you were counting down to.”
She said she “personally found it a bit hard to breathe on them,” adding, “It’s unlike any experience I’ve ever had.”