The Curse of Titanic Resonates as the Titan Submersible Implodes, Claims All

Chiemelie Ezeobi

About a century after the historic Titanic submerged and drowned hundreds of passengers, all five explorers inside the Titan Submersible owned by Ocean Gate Expeditions, who went on an exclusive exploration of the wreckage of sunken vessel which is 900 nautical miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, have died.

RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States and of the estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, more than 1,500 died. 

It was the wreckage these five explorers wanted a first hand sight off that led to their tragic death, triggering the “curse’ of the Titanic. 

Like all submersibles, the Titan required a mother ship that can launch and recover it, but in this case the support ship, which was above the launch area, lost all forms of communication as the GPS and radio did not work that far underwater. 

Initially, the Coast Guard said a remotely operated vehicle had discovered a portion of the Titan roughly 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic wreck on the sea floor.

But in a statement released by the company on Thursday, Ocean Gate revealed that “the passengers aboard the Titan submersible have sadly been lost”.

The submersible had begun on the voyage on June 18, 2023 with the CEO of Ocean Gate, Stockton Rush; and four others including billionaire Pakistani businessman, Shahzada Dawood and son Suleman Dawood; British Billionaire and owner of Action Aviation, Hamish Harding and French dive expert, Paul Henry Nargeolet.

Hours after it begun its downward journey to view the historic Titanic at the Ocean bed, the submersible, which was latched from outside, was declared missing. 

It went missing in a remote area of the North Atlantic and it had a four-day oxygen supply for all five onboard. 

As the days went on, the search became more frantic as the worry was that the oxygen supply would have been depleting.

But the news of their death following the catastrophic implosion brought the intensive search for the submersible to a grim end. 

Also reacting, the Coast Guard said the 

debris found at the seafloor was consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel.

Rear Admiral John Mauger of the First Coast Guard District said: “Debris found during the search for the vessel is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel.

“The outpouring of support in this highly complex search operation has been great appreciated. Our most heartfelt condolences go out to the friends and loved ones of the crew.” 

According to OceanGate, the Titan was a manned submersible capable of carrying up to five people to depths of 4,000 meters for site survey and inspection, research and data collection, film and media production, and deep sea testing of hardware and software.

They had opined that once the depth validation is complete, the Titan will be the only privately owned submersible in the world capable of diving to 4,000 meters as its operational depth would allow access to up to half of the world’s oceans.