The Guardian

First image of doomed Titan after implosion

The first picture of the Titan submersibl­e following its deadly June 2023 implosion was revealed on Monday by the US Coast Guard as authoritie­s opened a public hearing into the deaths of five people onboard.

The victims were killed when intense ocean pressure caused the Titan to collapse in on itself off the coast of Newfoundla­nd, Canada. They were the British explorer Hamish Harding; the British Pakistani businessma­n Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman; Stockton Rush, the chief executive officer of OceanGate, the American company that owned

the Titan; and the French diver PaulHenri Nargeolet.

The image showed the Titan’s broken tail cone at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Vessel fragments are also visible on the ocean floor. The Marine Board of Investigat­ion said the detached tail cone and other debris provided “conclusive evidence” that the vessel experience­d a “catastroph­ic implosion”, CNN reported.

Messages from the Titan to the Polar Prince, a nearby support ship, also gave insight into the accident.

In a final message, Titan’s crew texted “dropped two wts”, CNN reported, meaning the submersibl­e had shed two measures of weight in the hope of surfacing. OceanGate, the company that developed the Titan, has faced scrutiny as witnesses claim they had concerns about the vessel’s constructi­on before its doomed trip.

Tony Nissen, the company’s former engineerin­g director, said he was under pressure from higher-ups to get the Titan into the water.

Tym Catterson, who worked as a contractor for OceanGate, testified he was not comfortabl­e travelling in the Titan because of his doubts about the vessel’s carbon fibre and titanium constructi­on, ABC News reported.

“I don’t believe that the composites are the correct material for a pressure vessel that’s experienci­ng external compressio­n,” he said.

Those on the Titan were killed after descending into the north Atlantic to view the Titanic, the British passenger liner that sank in 1912 after striking an iceberg, killing more than 1,500 people.