Newly released video captures moment Stockton Rush's wife hears Titan implosion
OceanGate submits new video to U.S. Coast Guard's Marine Board of Investigation
Wendy Rush sat in front of computer screens with her head casually leaning on her hand, as her husband piloted a submersible more than 3,000 metres beneath her.
She was in the pilothouse of the Polar Prince — the support vessel for OceanGate's expeditions to the Titanic.
Someone is heard asking how many metres before the Titan submersible reached the sunken ship at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
"Yeah, about 500 metres," she says, before an audible noise like the shutting of a door could be heard over the speakers.
Rush — the wife of OceanGate founder Stockton Rush as well as company director— turned to the man next to her.
"What was that bang?" she asked with a smile on her face.
The United States Coast Guard now believes that was the very moment her husband and four other passengers were killed in a swift and fatal implosion.
This video — first reported by BBC — was posted on a U.S. Department of Defense website on Thursday.
Titan imploded on June 18, 2023, setting off a massive search and rescue effort that captured the world's attention. Among the dead were Stockton Rush, British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, father-and-son duo Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, and renowned Titanic researcher Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
Several international agencies kicked off investigations in the wake of the disaster, with the U.S. Coast Guard leading the way.
Its Marine Board of Investigation convened public hearings into the disaster last year. The video released on Thursday was never part of those hearings.
The video also shows a text message from the submersible immediately following the banging noise.
"Dropped two weights," Wendy Rush says, reading the message.
While the message was likely delayed in sending, it appeared to put Rush at ease again, as she picked up a walkie-talkie and repeated the message.
The video comes from inside the pilothouse on board the Polar Prince, a Newfoundland-based ship that was serving as the support vessel for the Titan expeditions.
Final report yet to come
OceanGate was thrust into a global spotlight following the disaster, which saw an unprecedented search effort co-ordinated by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Critics came forward to reveal the warnings they'd given Stockton Rush in the past about his experimental approach to deep-sea exploration. Dozens of industry insiders had written a letter in 2018, warning Rush he was heading down a dangerous path by not having the Titan classed — or certified — by any qualified body.
"Our apprehension is that the current 'experimental' approach adopted by OceanGate could result in negative outcomes (from minor to catastrophic)," the letter reads.
Rush's reputation was ravaged during the public hearings, with the company's former operations director saying the disaster could have been prevented if Rush had heeded his warnings, and the former lead engineer saying he refused to get in the submersible.
The final report from the coast guard's Marine Board of Investigation is expected later this year.
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