The tragedy that killed the crew of the Titan submersible in 2023 may have been foreshadowed by a separate event years before its fatal dive.
The US Coast Guard has released a new image of the vehicle, showing how the canopy came off after a dive in 2021.
One of the private passengers on board during that dive described last week how several screws holding the dome “went flying like bullets” after the submarine’s nose hit the deck.
The release of the new image adds to a catalogue of problems reported with the Titan in the years leading up to an implosion that killed five people on board last July.
The U.S. Coast Guard has released a photo of the Titan submersible, which sank in 2021. The image shows the hull breaking off when the ship was brought to the surface.
Fred Hagen, who has flown several Titan missions, described the 2021 incident at a hearing on the tragedy.
He said: “The force with which the rig hit the deck… it basically sheared off several bolts and they went flying out like bullets. And the titanium dome came off.”
Renata Rojas volunteered to monitor the 2021 expedition from the surface and said everything on the submersible was “working very well” before it descended into the ocean depths.
She described the moment the dome fell off the submarine as it was pulled towards the main ship, saying: ‘I think there were only two or four bolts on the dome.
“It started to leak and fall,” he added.
The event prompted crews to install 18 bolts on the dome for future expeditions, she said, but she said that on the occasions she has gone to Titan, she has never felt unsafe.
However, Hagen explained that the 2021 malfunction was on top of other issues he witnessed during his other dives with OceanGate.
This included one in 2022 that was aborted when the thruster failed upon reaching the seabed and the crew was unable to navigate to the Titanic.
Upon returning to the surface, Hagen said they heard the rumble, but he was satisfied with OceanGate’s explanation when they said they inspected the hull and said it had not cracked.
OceanGate staff reportedly told passengers that “the Titan’s fuselage body had just bounced off its carriage, so there was no damage,” Hagen said.
Steven Ross, a marine scientist and crew member on the 87th dive that occurred less than a week before the final mission, said the U.S. Coast Guard had not inspected the Titan in 2021, 2022 or 2023.
He said that during dive 80 a loud bang was heard and that “there was a discussion about the bang with the crew, mission specialists and scientists.”
The Titan submersible disappeared on June 18, 2023. There were five people inside the vehicle when it imploded.
The front of the Titan submersible (pictured) was found with no surrounding debris suggesting the problem occurred at the front of the Titan.
‘The theory of the sound was that there was probably a displacement of the pressure helmet in its metal cradle and that when it returned to its place it could have produced that loud noise.’
Scientists have further speculated that Titan’s implosion was due to a failed expedition just six days before its fatal voyage.
A malfunction allegedly caused one of the passengers to hit the hull window, which is said to have been the site of the implosion.
Ross told the hearing there was a problem with the ship’s variable ballast tank, which controls buoyancy.
The malfunction caused the Titan to throw passengers all over the cabin, with Ross saying: ‘The pilot crashed into the rear bulkhead, the rest of the passengers fell to the ground.
Experts said there was a faulty connection between the hull and the large titanium ring that allowed water to seep in through the front and break the submarine loose. The Titan’s tail is seen on the seabed.
‘I ended up standing on the rear bulkhead, one passenger was hanging upside down and the other two managed to squeeze themselves into the bow end.’
He also said he was not sure whether OceanGate inspected the Titan’s hull immediately after its malfunction or before its final dive.
Passengers were charged $250,000 to board the submersible Titan, which imploded an hour and minutes into its journey to the site of the Titanic that sank on April 14, 1912.
The remains of the Titanic are located almost 2.4 miles below the surface of the sea and the descent takes two hours.
When ships reach those depths, the water pressing inward from all sides creates a pressure about 390 times greater than what we experience at the water’s surface.
On the day of the voyage, five people boarded the Titan, including OceanGate CEO and operator Stockton Rush, businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood, businessman Hamish Harding, and French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
