Items that survived the Titan submersible implosion revealed
A new documentary about the Titan submersible revealed the several items that were found intact at the bottom of the ocean following its deadly implosion that left five people dead in June 2023.
In Implosion: The Titan Sub Disaster, authorities found Titan's parts like carbon fiber, fiberglass, and electronic parts after sifting through the debris, which turned into sludge after removing the water.
Discovery+ also shared an excerpt of the documentary on TikTok last May 29.
In the clip, United States Coast Guard Lieutenant Kelly Steele said they found a piece of the sleeve of Stockton Rush, the chief executive officer of the sub's operator OceanGate, "caked inside of sand."
"Not the whole suit, just that," Steele said.
The officer said there were also an ink pen, business cards, and Titanic stickers inside Rush's sleeve.
But the pen wasn't damaged despite what happened.
“There was nothing else but that," Steele said. "But each one of those pieces—even the pen—was still intact."
"It hadn’t been broken. All of this debris. All of these things shattered, but his pen was still intact," she added.
Titan, roughly the size of a minivan, lost contact with its mother ship about an hour and a quarter into its descent to the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean on the morning of June 18, 2023. It had about four days of emergency capability.
All five people on board—Rush, businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman, British explorer Hamish Harding, and French submarine expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet—were killed in the implosion.
Titan's wreckage was found several hundred yards from the location of the Titanic after days of searching.
The Marine Board of Investigation said a remotely operated vehicle located the tail cone and other debris on June 22, 2023. The board said this provides “conclusive evidence” that the submersible experienced a catastrophic implosion.
The U.S. Coast Guard is set to publish its final report on the Titan implosion later this year.
Implosion: The Titan Sub Disaster, which runs for two hours, premiered on Discovery+ and Max on May 29.
