2023 – Titan, a submersible operated by OceanGate Expeditions, imploded while attempting to view the wreck of the Titanic, killing all five people on board including OceanGate co-founder and CEO Stockton Rush in the North Atlantic Ocean. On 18 June 2023,
Titan, a submersible operated by the American tourism and expeditions company OceanGate, imploded during an expedition to view the wreck of the
Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Aboard the submersible were Stockton Rush, the American chief executive officer of OceanGate; Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French deep-sea explorer and Titanic expert; Hamish Harding, a British businessman; Shahzada Dawood, a Pakistani-British businessman; and Dawood's son, Suleman. Communication between
Titan and its mother ship, MV
Polar Prince, was lost 1 hour and 33 minutes into the dive. Authorities were alerted when it failed to resurface at the scheduled time later that day. After the submersible had been missing for four days, a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) discovered a debris field containing parts of
Titan, about 550 yards from the bow of
Titanic. The search area was informed by the United States Navy's (USN) sonar detection of an acoustic signature consistent with an implosion around the time communications with the submersible ceased, suggesting the pressure hull had imploded while Titan was descending, resulting in the instantaneous deaths of all five occupants. Industry experts, friends of Rush, and OceanGate employees had previously stated concerns about the safety of the vessel.
