The search for the Titan submersible, which went missing on its voyage to the wreck of the Titanic, gripped the world in 2023.
After five frantic days of searching, the wreckage was eventually found on the ocean floor roughly 500m from the sunken Titanic.
The implosion killed all five people on board – Titan operator Stockton Rush, who founded OceanGate, the company that owned the submersible; two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman; British adventurer Hamish Harding; and Titanic expert and the sub’s pilot Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
After the disaster, concerns were raised because of the Titan’s unconventional design and Mr Rush’s refusal to submit to independent safety checks.
OceanGate also suspended all exploration and commercial operations in July 2023.
Here is what happened.
Launch and losing contact
The Titan submersible began its two-hour descent to the wreck of the Titanic, at a depth of 3,810m (12,500ft), from St John’s, Newfoundland, off Canada’s east coast, at around 8am local time (1pm UK time) on 18 June 2023.
At 9.45am (5pm UK time), the sub lost contact with its surface vessel. Titan then failed to appear at its scheduled surface time of 3pm (8pm UK time).
It was not until 5.40pm (10.40pm UK time) that the US Coast Guard was made aware.
US and Canadian ships, and planes, officially began their search the next day, on 19 June 2023.
Sonobuoys, capable of monitoring sound at depths of up to around 3,900m (13,000ft), were dropped into the Atlantic in an attempt to pick up any sign of the missing craft.
‘Banging noises’
As details emerged on 20 June of who was on board, France committed to sending Atalante, a ship equipped with a deep-sea diving vessel, to the search area.
The urgency of the search was highlighted by information from the vessel’s operator, OceanGate Expeditions, which said that Titan had a 96-hour oxygen supply in case of emergencies.
However, hopes were raised when reports emerged that sounds had been detected under the water across several hours.
No official announcement was made, despite US media outlets beginning to report the news.
Rescue race
The US Coast Guard confirmed on 21 June that a Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater banging noises at 30-minute intervals, but added that the resulting search came back “negative”.
The US Coast Guard, US Navy, Canadian Coast Guard and OceanGate Expeditions established a unified command to oversee search operations, with the French vessel Atalante arriving later in the evening. At least 10 vessels were involved by that point.
Discovery of debris
The estimated deadline for Titan’s oxygen supply to run out was reached just after noon on Thursday 22 June 2023. The rear admiral leading the search and rescue operation told Sky News at the time it remained “active” and that crews were “hopeful”.
All vessels involved in the search were by then finally in place – including the Atalante ship, which brought a robot that can dive to 6,000m (19,600ft).
Just before 4.50pm UK time, the US Coast Guard revealed that “a debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic”.
Sky News then interviewed David Mearns, a rescue expert who knew two of the five men on board.
While live on air, he received a WhatsApp message suggesting that the ‘landing frame and rear cover’ of the vessel had been discovered.
He said: “They don’t use phrases like ‘debris field’ unless there’s no chance of a recovery of the men alive.
“A debris field implies a break-up of the submersible… that really sort of indicates what is the worst-case scenario, which is a catastrophic failure and generally that’s an implosion.
“The only saving grace is that it would have been immediate – literally in milliseconds – and the men wouldn’t have known what was happening.”
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Just before 8pm UK time, OceanGate said in a statement it believed that those on board had “sadly been lost”.
The company said it “grieved the loss of life” and expressed gratitude “for the countless men and women from multiple organisations of the international community who expedited wide-ranging resources and have worked so very hard on this mission”.
‘Totality of the vessel’ found
On 23 June 2023, the US Coast Guard said “major pieces” of the submersible had been found by a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) which had been scouring the ocean floor.
The ROV first spotted the “tail cone” from the rear tip of the submersible and then came across a large debris field nearby, officials said, where the front of the sub’s pressure chamber was found.
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Paul Hankins, the director of salvage operations in the US Navy said at the time the discovery was the “first indication there was a catastrophic event”.
The robot then came across a second, smaller debris field, which contained the other end of the pressurised hold, which Mr Hankins said “basically compromised the totality of that pressure vessel”.
The wreckage was brought ashore, where presumed human remains were recovered.
Investigation launched
Following the disaster, concerns were raised over the Titan’s unconventional design and Mr Rush’s refusal to submit to independent safety checks.
The USCG Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) also launched an investigation into the disaster.
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The investigating panel heard two weeks of testimony in September 2024, which saw a former OceanGate scientific director say the Titan malfunctioned during a dive just a few days before it imploded.
OceanGate’s former operations boss also told the panel the sub was a huge risk and the company was only focused on profit.
In August 2025 the MBI released its report which concluded that “the loss of five lives was preventable” and a “toxic workplace culture” was one of several contributing factors that led to the sub’s implosion.
The 335-page report identified a total of eight “primary causal factors” that led to the fatal implosion and went on to make 17 safety recommendations with the hope of “closing gaps in international maritime policy”.
‘What was that bang?’
In February 2025, a recording which appeared to capture the implosion of the submersible was released by US Coast Guard officials.
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The short recording included a loud noise that sounds like a muffled clap, before going silent for a few seconds.
The coast guard said the noise was picked up by a passive acoustic recorder located around 900 miles from the implosion site.
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In May of the same year, the coast guard released new footage showing Wendy Rush, wife of Stockton Rush, attempting to contact those on board the doomed vessel.
Mrs Rush and colleague Gary Foss are seen tracking the Titan’s journey in the North Atlantic Ocean from support vessel Polar Prince.
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After the implosion is heard, Mrs Rush asks: “What was that bang?”
The USCG believe the noise was the sound of the Titan’s implosion reaching the surface of the ocean.
