"What Was That Bang": When OceanGate CEO's Wife Heard Titan Implosion
Wendy Rush, the wife of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, knew exactly when the Titan submersible carrying her husband and four others imploded. She was on the support ship Polar Prince, monitoring the mission, when she heard a sudden loud pop through the communication system during the vessel's 2023 dive to the Titanic wreck.
"What was that bang?" Wendy Rush asked, unaware it was the exact moment the Titan imploded deep in the North Atlantic, instantly killing all five people on board.
Newly released footage from the US Coast Guard, obtained by the BBC, shows the tragic final moments of communication. Wendy, also a director at OceanGate, was closely tracking the dive when the sub suddenly went silent, about 90 minutes into its descent. The Titan was nearly 11,000 feet underwater when it suffered the catastrophic implosion.
The blast instantly killed Stockton Rush, British explorer Hamish Harding, Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani billionaire Shahzada Dawood, and his 19-year-old son Suleman.
The BBC documentary, Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster, reveals the sub's carbon fibre hull had already shown signs of structural failure during a previous dive a year before the tragedy.
"Delamination at dive 80 was the beginning of the end," said US Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Katie Williams. "And every one that stepped onboard the Titan after dive 80 was risking their life."
Despite warnings from experts, OceanGate continued using the sub. The deadly trip in 2023 was its 88th dive and its first deep-sea mission of the year.
Adding to the confusion, the support ship received a message from Titan just after the implosion, reporting it had dropped two weights to return to the surface. Wendy Rush read that message aloud, still unaware of what happened.
At the same time, underwater sensors picked up the sound of the implosion - a sharp blast followed by silence - a video of which was released earlier this year.
The clip, shared by the US Coast Guard and sourced from NOAA, contains a sudden static burst, a massive boom, and a chilling return to white noise. It is believed to be the final sound of the vessel before it collapsed under extreme ocean pressure.
Following the disaster, the Coast Guard recovered wreckage from the ocean floor, including parts of Titan, clothing, business cards, and Titanic-themed stickers. The agency is expected to release its final report later this year.
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