The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has recently shared an audio recording capturing the moment of the tragic implosion of the OceanGate Titan. This recording, made public through the US Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) last week, marks the first time such an audio clip has been released by government authorities. The incident occurred over two years ago as the submersible was en route to explore the Titanic’s wreckage in the North Atlantic, resulting in the loss of five passengers.
The sound of the implosion, recorded on June 18, 2023, was captured by a moored passive acoustic recorder located approximately 900 miles away from the event. The audio clip begins with a brief period of silence before a deep, sustained rumbling reaching nearly 400 Hz, as indicated by a corresponding frequency graph.
OceanGate, established in 2007, began offering private dives to the Titanic wreck in 2021. Tourists could experience these dives inside the company’s 22-foot-long submersible for a price of up to $250,000 per seat, covering a 2.5-mile journey to the UNESCO underwater cultural heritage site. Over the next two years, the Titan conducted several excursions, facing technical issues and communication disruptions with its surface crew. Concerns about design flaws in the submersible and the overall operations of the company were repeatedly raised by international maritime organizations and experts.
In a tragic turn of events on June 18, 2023, radio communications with the Titan ceased during a dive involving OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush and four others. Submersible debris near the Titanic was found by remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) on June 22, concluding an extensive search covering over 10,000 miles of the Atlantic Ocean. Experts later confirmed that the implosion of the Titan was likely due to a flaw in its hull integrity, as the immense pressure at that depth caused a near-instantaneous collapse.
The final salvage mission by the US Coast Guard in October 2023 retrieved additional presumed human remains. During the public hearings of the Marine Board of Investigation in September 2024, experts revealed that the implosion of the Titan resulted in a debris field spanning approximately 30,000 square meters. While numerous debris fragments were recovered, larger wreckage pieces remain around 1,600 feet from the Titanic.
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