Ghostly Footage Shows Imploded Sub Resting in Freezing Darkness of Ocean Floor

New fear unlocked.

Ghosts of the Titan

The US Coast Guard has released the first public footage of the wreck of OceanGate's Titan submersible, which imploded in June of last year, killing all five passengers on board.

The eerie footage shows the Coast Guard's remotely operated vehicle approach the submersible's white tail cone, revealing dramatic damage, with wires and tubes scattered across the ocean floor.

Two weeks of Coast Guard hearings kicked off on Monday, with officials revealing grim new details about the disaster. Now, roughly 15 months after the Titan's five passengers were declared dead, we get to see the sub's remains in its final resting place miles below the surface.

 

Ill-Tempered and Reckless

On Monday, the US Coast Guard revealed that it had discovered a shocking number of problems with OceanGate, including 70 equipment-related issues in 2021 and 48 additional ones in 2022.

Experts have pointed out a number of issues that may have led to the submersible imploding, from expired carbon fiber to the unusual pill-like shape of its hull.

And the damning revelations keep on coming. Former OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who perished on board the Titan when it imploded, had already crashed a Titan predecessor, dubbed Cyclops 1, in 2016 while exploring the wreckage of a ship that sank in 1956 off the coast of Massachusetts.

It'd be a damning indictment even if Rush wasn't already known for repeatedly ignoring safety concerns and threatening to sue those willing to speak out.

According to a testimony by OceanGate's former director of marine operations David Lochridge, who accompanied the former CEO on the 2016 journey, Rush accidentally bent the sub's drive skids after incorrectly separating from its host. He even drove it into the ocean floor, causing the skids to get stuck under a metal panel.

Worse yet, Rush's fumbling caused the Cyclops 1 to get jammed underneath the wreckage it was exploring. Rush reportedly told Lochridge and other passengers on board the sub they were stuck and called for help. Lochridge later extricated the crew from the shipwreck.

But despite being the savior in this story, Rush later fired Lochridge after their relationship took a nosedive following the mission.

More on the Titan: New Photo Shows Wrecked Titanic Sub on Ocean Floor