On board were Stockton Rush, CEO of the company that built the Titan, along with British explorer Hamish Harding, veteran French diver Paul Henri Nargeolet, British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman.
The implosion sparked international debate about the future of private deep-sea travel and an ongoing Coast Guard investigation. After holding public hearings in September, the Coast Guard last week released a two-and-a-half minute video showing Rush's wife, Wendy Rush, and an OceanGate employee monitoring the submersible's descent from the Polar Prince support ship.
The video shows Wendy Rush and Gary Foss sitting in front of a computer. After a faint sound like a closing door, Rush asks, “What was that bang?”
The Coast Guard says it believes it was the sound of the Titan’s implosion reaching the surface of the ocean. About 2 minutes later, Foss says, “We’ve lost tracking.”
Concerns were raised after the implosion because of the Titan's unconventional design and its creator's refusal to submit to independent safety checks. OceanGate suspended operations in July 2023.