NEW video footage from the support vessel has exposed the exact instant OceanGate's Titan submersible was destroyed.
It imploded roughly an hour and a half into its journey to the Titanic wreckage in June 2023, resulting in the deaths of all five passengers.
Footage shows the wife of OceanGate's chief executive hearing the moment their deep-sea vessel collapsed underwater, killing her husband and four others.
Broadcaster BBC gained exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the American Coast Guard's inquiry to create their film, Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster. According to reports, the investigation team have spent two years examining the tragedy.
Wendy Rush was sitting aboard the support vessel when she heard a loud bang and asked crew members: "What was that bang?"
The sound was actually her husband Stockton Rush's submersible imploding as it descended towards the Titanic wreck.
Rush, British adventurer Hamish Harding, experienced French diver Paul Henri Nargeolet, and British-Pakistani father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, were killed in the accident. All had paid significant sums to visit the famous shipwreck lying nearly 4,000 metres beneath the Atlantic Ocean.
Coast Guard officials now reveal the vessel's fatal flaw began developing a full year before the deadly trip. During an earlier dive - the craft's 80th journey - passengers reported hearing a worrying bang as they returned to the surface.
At the time, Rush dismissed the noise as the submarine moving within its frame. However, investigators say sensor data proves this was actually the carbon fibre hull beginning to separate - a dangerous process called delamination.
"Delamination at dive 80 was the beginning of the end," explained Lieutenant Commander Katie Williams from the Coast Guard. "Everyone that stepped onboard the Titan after dive 80 was risking their life."
Despite this warning sign, the company continued operating. Three more trips took place in summer 2022 before the fatal voyage the following year.
The submarine's construction had long worried deep-sea experts. Unlike traditional vessels made from steel or titanium, Titan used layers of carbon fibre mixed with resin - an unconventional choice that many considered risky for extreme depths.
One expert called the design an "abomination" and said the disaster was "inevitable". The craft had never passed independent safety checks.
Businessman Oisin Fanning, who travelled on Titan's final two successful dives, told the BBC, "If you're asking a simple question: 'Would I go again knowing what I know now?' - the answer is no. Very intelligent people who lost their lives would not have made that journey had they had all the facts."
Deep-sea explorer Victor Vescovo said he had warned people against using the vessel, comparing it to "playing Russian roulette". He claimed he told Mr Rush directly that catastrophic failure was inevitable.
Christine Dawood, who lost both her husband and teenage son, told documentary makers: "I don't think that anybody who goes through loss and such a trauma can ever be the same."
The Coast Guard will publish their final investigation report later this year. OceanGate has since shut down permanently and said it would be "inappropriate to respond further" while investigations continue.
FILE PHOTO: Apple iPhones are seen inside India's first Apple retail store in Mumbai, India, April 17, 2023. REUTERS/Francis MascarenhasREUTERS
