‘What was that bang?’ Newly released footage shows OceanGate Titan sub's final implosion sound

A newly released video by the US Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation has shed light on the harrowing final moments of the Titan submersible, capturing the apparent sound of its catastrophic implosion that killed all five people on board in June 2023.

The footage, part of the evidence submitted to the Coast Guard’s highest-level inquiry, shows Wendy Rush — wife of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush — reacting to a sudden noise while monitoring the dive from the sub’s support vessel. The sub had been descending toward the wreckage of the Titanic, located some 3,800 metres beneath the surface of the North Atlantic.

Sitting in front of a computer used to communicate with the sub, Wendy Rush is seen looking up after hearing a loud noise and asking, “What was that bang?” The sound, described as resembling a car door slamming, is believed to have been the moment the vessel imploded at a depth of around 3,300 metres.

Implosion confirmed moments before communication lost

The implosion occurred approximately 90 minutes into the Titan’s dive, which was part of a $250,000-per-passenger expedition to view the Titanic’s remains. The support vessel received a message from the sub moments after the noise, stating that it had dropped two weights — a standard manoeuvre during dives — which initially led the surface crew to believe operations were progressing normally.

However, Chris Roman, an oceanography professor at the University of Rhode Island, explained that communication systems used in deep-sea operations can introduce delays. He said it was possible the weight-drop message had been sent seconds before the implosion, but due to inherent buffering and signal processing, it only reached the surface after the sub was destroyed.

Authorities confirmed that contact with the sub was lost just six seconds after the message was received.

The Marine Board has spent nearly two years investigating the disaster, which prompted an international search-and-rescue mission when the sub failed to resurface. The wreckage was ultimately located just a few hundred yards from the Titanic.

BBC and Netflix documentaries to explore deeper issues

The five victims included Stockton Rush; British adventurer Hamish Harding; French deep-sea diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet; Pakistani-British businessman Shahzada Dawood; and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood.

The tragedy has become a cautionary tale about unchecked ambition and commercial risk-taking in extreme tourism. Testimonies during the hearings have painted a troubling picture of OceanGate’s practices, including concerns about the sub’s structural integrity and decisions to proceed with dives despite repeated warnings.

Wendy Rush, who was also a director at OceanGate, appeared in the newly surfaced footage during the fatal dive’s final moments. The USCG later confirmed the noise she heard was, in fact, the sound of the sub’s implosion.

A forthcoming BBC documentary, Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster, has been granted exclusive access to the Coast Guard's findings. It reportedly reveals that the carbon fibre material used in the sub’s construction had begun to degrade a year before the deadly mission.

Netflix is also set to release a documentary examining the events and decisions that led to one of the most tragic underwater disasters in recent memory.