Titan Sub Implosion Animation Viewed 5 Million Times

A video explaining how OceanGate's Titan submersible imploded, killing all five people onboard, has gone viral on YouTube.

Titan began descending towards the wreckage of the doomed ocean liner Titanic on the morning of June 18, after which contact was lost with the vessel. The U.S. Coast Guard later revealed the submersible suffered a "catastrophic implosion," with deep-sea robots discovering a debris field on June 22. Officials later said "presumed human remains" were recovered from the site, and sent to the U.S. Marine Board of Investigation for verification.

The OceanGate Titan disaster attracted enormous public and media attention around the world. On July 1 the AiTelly YouTube channel, which specializes in "3D engineering animations," released a video explaining what it says happened to the submersible, which has since been viewed more than 5 million times.

The narrator of the video says: "Implosion is a process of destruction by collapsing inwards of the object itself… In case of the Titan submersible the implosion was caused due to very high hydro-static pressure of the surrounding water, which happened within a fraction of a millisecond.

"At the depth the Titanic rests there is around 5,600 pounds per square inch of pressure, that's almost 400 times the pressure we experience on the surface. As the submersible is deep in the ocean it experiences the force on its surface due to the water pressure. When this force becomes larger than the force [the] hull can withstand the vessel implodes violently."

The accompanying animation shows the submersible suddenly buckling under the water pressure. It notes debris was found "just 1,600 feet" from the Titanic wreck, in five different parts, which are shown in animated form on the ocean floor.

The video also pointed out a possible design flaw with Titan, noting it "used mostly carbon fibers which have the advantage of being lighter than titanium or steel."

However, the channel added: "The properties of carbon fibers for deep sea applications are however not that well understood. It can crack and break suddenly."

The five passengers onboard Titan were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush; French submersible pilot Paul-Henri Nargeolet; British adventurer Hamish Harding; British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood; and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood.

In early July OceanGate announced it had suspended "all exploration and commercial operations," in a small message on the top left corner of its website.

When contacted by Newsweek a spokesperson for OceanGate declined to comment.

A couple who had launched a lawsuit against Stockton Rush, claiming OceanGate refused to refund their deposit for a planned trip to the Titanic wreck, dismissed their claim after the disaster. In a statement they said: "Money is a driving force in our economy, but honor, respect and dignity are more important to the human soul."

Update 7/13/23 3:02 a.m. ET: This story has been updated to note that OceanGate declined to comment.