The Titan submersible disaster may have happened a year and a half ago, but we’re still learning new things about what exactly happened.

The sub, which was on an expedition to the wreckage of the Titanic, imploded due to the immense pressure of the water on June 18, 2023.

Oceangate CEO Stockton Rush, British businessman Hamish Harding, aged 58, and 77-year-old former French navy diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet lost their lives.

19-year-old Suleman Dawood and his dad, Shahzada, a 48-year-old British-Pakistani businessman, were also on the sub and died from the explosion.

In a new development to the disaster, the US Coast Guard has released audio footage that is believed to capture the final moments of the doomed sub.

Recorded by a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration device, the audio is certainly disturbing.

Footage of the wreckage has since been released (US Coast Guard/Pelagic Research Services)

The ‘suspected acoustic signature’, as officials are calling it, reveals an incredibly loud bang followed by a large rumble.

The tragic incident sent shockwaves across the world in 2023, though it did not surprise Karl Stanley, a close friend of Rush.

Stanley went on a trip in Titan back in 2019, and he certainly had some concerns.

During an interview with 60 Minutes Australia, Stanley was asked if Rush had a ‘death wish’, to which he replied: “The only question is, ‘When?’ He was risking his life and his customers’ lives to go down in history. He’s more famous now than anything else he would’ve done.

“He quite literally and figuratively went out with the biggest bang in human history that you could go out with, and who was the last person to murder two billionaires at once, and have them pay for the privilege?”

The disaster sent shockwaves across the world (PA)

When asked what he believed caused the implosion, Stanley said: “There’s no doubt in my mind that it was the carbon fiber tube that was the mechanical part that failed.”

During his trip with Rush on the sub off the coast of the Bahamas, Stanley spoke claimed he heard ‘loud, gunshot-like noises … every three to four minutes’.

Stanley said he reached out to the OceanGate CEO in a series of calls and emails following the trip to voice his concerns.

There is an area of the hull that is breaking down. It will only get worse,” he wrote to Rush in 2019.

Stanley added: “I literally painted a picture of his wrecked sub at the bottom [of the ocean] and even that wasn’t enough.”

The first footage shown of the OceanGate Titan submersible wreckage has revealed that parts of the vessel are still intact, and there’s a reason why.

On September 16, the US Coast Guard commenced a hearing to investigate the implosion of the sub and pinpoint if there is anyone to blame for its wreckage.

Last year, an OceanGate Expedition 21-foot submersible named Titan, descended into deep waters for a tour of the Titanic‘s wreckage site off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Footage of the wreckage has been released. (US Coast Guard/Pelagic Research Services)

The expedition began at 8.00am ET on June 18, 2023, however around an hour and 45 minutes into its descent, contact with the Titan and its five passengers onboard was lost.

After a hefty search mission, the US Coast Guard confirmed that the Titan was destroyed by a ‘catastrophic implosion’ due to intense water pressure and failed materials, resulting in the loss of all five people onboard.

Expected to last two weeks, the US Coast Guard’s hearing has revealed a slew of never-before-seen footage of the Titan wreckage along with the crew’s harrowing final message.

Despite the Titan being thought to have imploded, parts of the vessel are still intact as seen in video footage and pictures released from the hearing. Search teams have also brought chunks of the submersible back to shore over the past year.

Arun Bansil, a professor of physics at Northeastern University, explained the science behind this, telling the Mirror: “Although it seems counterintuitive, large objects do not normally split apart into smithereens in an implosion or explosion.

“For example, a pressure cooker usually explodes with the top blown off but the body remains intact,” he added.

“The initial failure of Titan would have occurred at its weakest links such as defects in the hull.”

Large chunks of the sub are still intact. (United States Coast Guard)

“Once a crack opens, however, large pieces of the hull will no longer experience very violent forces and remain more or less intact,” he explained.

The US Coast Guard has listed 24 witnesses to testify in the ongoing trial, ten of which are believed to be former OceanGate employees.

One former employee, David Lochridge, reportedly voiced his concerns over the safety of the Titan sub while he was still working at the company.

Speaking at the hearing on September 17, Lochridge claimed that he was ‘dismissed on every single occasion’ whenever he raised his concerns.

He went on to say that OceanGate ‘knew my dissatisfaction’ and would not let him attend board meetings out of fear he would speak out.

“I was very vocal about that and I still am,” Lochridge continued.

Titan sub inquiry – everything we know from the investigation so far

A public hearing into the five deaths of the people onboard OceanGate’s ill-fated Titan submersible began on Monday (16 September).

It is expected to last two weeks.

Titan was ‘unregistered, non-certificated and unclassed’

The first day of the hearing (16 September) heard how the submersible was built in 2020 and was ‘unregistered, non-certificated and unclassed’, as well as having no identification number.

The submersible’s hull was never subject to third-party checks and officials said it was left exposed to the elements while in storage for seven months in 2022 and 2023.

Parts of Titan ‘bonded together using an adhesive’

In 2017, the year OceanGate announced it would be conducting trips to the Titanic, employees bonded together the submersible’s carbon fibre hull and titanium rings ‘using an adhesive’.

Titan found ‘partially sunk’ month before tragedy

During its 2023 expedition, the Titan was found ‘partially sunk’ in the ocean.

Image released of Titan debris on sea floor

An image showing debris, including the Titan’s tail cone, on the sea floor after the implosion was revealed.

Titan lost contact with support ship

Those onboard the Titan were communicating with support staff on the Polar Prince ship by text messages.

After a number of exchanges, Titan crew lost contact with Polar Prince as it descended.

One of the last texts from submersible revealed

One of Titan’s final responses was revealed to be: “All good here.”

Titan ‘struck by lightning’

Tony Nissen, OceanGate Expeditions’ former engineering director, testified that the Titan was hit by lightning during a test mission in 2018.

Nissen, who was allegedly fired in 2019 after not letting the submersible go to the Titanic, told OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush it was ‘not working like we thought it would’.

When asked to pilot the submersible, Nissen said: “I’m not getting in it.”

Titan engineer ‘felt pressure to get submersible ready for wreck dive’

When asked if there was pressure to get the Titan into the water, Nissen replied: “100%.”

Waivers

While Bonnie Carl, OceanGate’s former human resources and finance director, said she was aware of a waiver people had to sign, she testified she ‘never saw anyone sign anything’.

“When I was taking money, we hadn’t even finished building the Titan,” Carl claimed.

‘No red flags’ on day Titan went missing

Former OceanGate contractor Tym Catterson said: “There were no red flags… it was a good day.”

Footage of Titan wreckage released by US Coast Guard

New, unseen footage of the doomed Titan sub has been released to the public by the US Coast Guard, with the camera panning around to see the tail cone of the sub on the ocean floor.

Whistleblower says implosion was ‘inevitable’

Former employee of OceanGate David Lochridge gave evidence on Tuesday (17 September) and revealed how he warned of potential safety problems with the vessel as far back as 2018, which he says were ignored.

Lochridge, who was fired from the company in 2018, told investigators that it was ‘inevitable’ something would eventually go wrong, and when asked if he had any confidence in the way Titan was being built, he stated: “No confidence whatsoever, and I was very vocal about that, and still am.”

“A lot of steps along the way were missed,” Lochridge added. “I knew that hull would fail. It’s an absolute mess.”

He also criticised the ‘arrogance’ within the company, along with the ‘control freak’ tendencies of Stockton Rush.

New images of the wreckage of the doomed Titan sub have been revealed during the ongoing hearing, following claims from a friend of Stockton Rush that the OceanGate CEO ‘knew it would end like this’.

The submersible imploded due to the immense pressure of the water while on a once-in-a-lifetime expedition to view the Titanic, back on June 18, 2023.

They show the tragic remains of the vessel scattered 12,400ft under the North Atlantic Ocean, which is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon.

Earlier this month, a hearing was launched to investigate why the fatal implosion took place, and whether anyone was to blame for the incident.

Alongside Rush, there were four other passengers on board the submersible – the youngest of which was 19-year-old Suleman Dawood, and he was joined by his dad Shahzada, a 48-year-old British-Pakistani businessman.

British businessman Hamish Harding, aged 58, and 77-year-old former French navy diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, completed the lineup.

The pictures were released as part of the US Coast Guard’s investigation and depict the shell of the submersible on the sea bed, while a second depicts the vulnerabilities of the Titan sub through a close-up shot.

A part of the wreckage which was recovered reveals the vulnerabilities of the submersible – highlighted by investigators (US Coast Guard)

New images reveal further insight into the Titan sub disaster (US Coast Guard)

The submersible’s implosion, roughly an hour and 45 minutes into a two-and-a-half-hour descent, shocked the world.

But it did not surprise Karl Stanley, a close friend of Rush, as he previously told 60 Minutes Australia during an interview that the OceanGate CEO ‘definitely knew it was going to end like this’ – in disaster.

Now, giving testimony at the hearing he recalled the moment he was onboard the vessel alongside Rush back in 2019.

Stanley explained: “He told us to be prepared for noises.

“He had recently done the solo dive on his own, and basically just said, ‘this is going to make noise’ and ‘brace yourselves’.”

At which point large cracking noises could be heard.

The Titan sub hearing is ongoing (US Coast Guard)

Karl Stanley claimed it was only a matter of time before the Titan submersible imploded (60 Minutes Australia)

While speaking to the Australian outlet he said that Rush had designed a ‘mouse trap for billionaires’ in the form of the Titan sub.

While speaking to the Aussie TV station, Stanley claimed the tragedy was inevitable.

He added: “The only question is, ‘When?’ He was risking his life and his customers’ lives to go down in history. He’s more famous now than anything else he would’ve done.

“He definitely knew it was going to end like this. He quite literally and figuratively went out with the biggest bang in human history that you could go out with, and who was the last person to murder two billionaires at once, and have them pay for the privilege?”

Both Harding and Nargeolet, who both tragically died in the implosion, were suspected billionaires.

A timeline of the Titan sub disaster

OceanGate’s Titan submersible begins its descent

On 18 June, 2023, OceanGate Expedition’s 21-foot submersible, named Titan, submerged at 8am E.T and began its tour to the wreckage of the Titanic off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Five people were onboard the vessel with a 96-hour oxygen supply.

Who was onboard the Titan?

Onboard the vessel was OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, 61, British billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, British-Pakistani billionaire Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son Suleman.

The Titan sub suffered a catastrophic implosion (PA/American Photo Archive of the OceanGate Expeditions)

The Titan loses contact with support vessel

The Polar Prince loses contact with the Titan around one hour and 45 minutes into its descent.

A few hours after the submersible was supposed to resurface, the US Coast Guard received a report of an overdue submersible.

Search operation is launched

The US Coast Guard launch a large-scale operation on 19 June, 2023, when the vessel fails to resurface or make contact almost 24 hours on.

‘Banging noises’ are detected

Two days on from the Titan’s disappearance on 21 June, 2023, sonar crews taking part in the search pick up ‘banging noises’, giving false hope that the passengers are still alive.

The Titan’s oxygen supply ‘runs out’

At 1pm E.T on 22 June, 2023, the submersible’s 96-hour oxygen supply is predicted to have ran out, cementing fears for the crew onboard.

A ‘debris field’ is discovered, leading to the realisation of a ‘catastrophic implosion’

The US Coast Guard confirms the Titan was destroyed by a ‘catastrophic implosion’ – a result of both enormous water pressure and failed materials – with the loss of all five people aboard.

Queen of Drag RuPaul Andre Charles has paid tribute to James Lee Williams, known on RuPaul’s show as The Vivienne, after they died at the age of 32.

RuPaul spoke out after news of The Vivienne’s death was confirmed by a spokesperson, who said they had ‘passed this weekend’ of January 4.

The Vivienne first stepped into the spotlight in 2015, when they became the UK Drag Ambassador for the American series of RuPaul’s Drag Race and later went on to compete in the first UK series of the show.

The Vivienne won the 2019 series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK (Chelsea Guglielmino/WireImage)

The drag queen managed to secure the win in the 2019 series, after performing a lip-synced version of Wham!’s ‘I’m Your Man’.

RuPaul has now spoken out, taking to Instagram to share a photo from Drag Race and writing:: “With a broken heart, I join the entire Drag Race universe in mourning the loss of The Vivienne—an incredibly talented queen and a lovely human being.”

RuPaul’s tribute comes after Drag Race judge Michelle Visage shared her own tribute to the former contestant, saying she was ‘heartbroken’ by the news of their passing.

Visage shared a series of pictures of herself with The Vivienne on social media, and wrote: “I don’t know how to say how I feel. My darling @thevivienne_ we go back to when I started coming over here to the UK.

“You were always there, always laughing, always giving, always on point. Your laughter, your wit, your talent, your drag. I loved all of it but I loved your friendship most of all.

“I love you my darling. You will be so missed my lovely. May your light shine fiercely, forever.”

The Vivienne’s All Stars co-star, Jinkx Monsoon, also shared loving words for The Vivienne as she wrote: “I don’t entirely have words. She has made her mark in our hearts and on her stages.

“It’s too soon for a curtain call but I know it’s a standing ovation. I love you Viv.”

The Vivienne has been described as ‘warm-hearted and amazing’ (Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for VH1/Paramount +)

When news of The Vivienne’s passing was announced, the spokesperson described them as an ‘incredibly loved, warm-hearted and amazing person’.

“Their family are heartbroken at the loss of their son, brother and uncle. They are so proud of the wonderful things James achieved in their life and career,” they said, adding they would ‘not be releasing any further details’ regarding the death.

“We please ask that James’s family are given the time and privacy they now need to process and grieve.”