'Water comes crashing in': The science behind the 'catastrophic implosion' that killed 5 on the Titan

Parts of the Titan submersible, the subject of a massive search this past week, were found scattered across the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.

Officials from the U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday the "debris field" was discovered 500 metres from the wreckage of the Titanic, and is likely due to an implosion.

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"The fact that they didn't hear it while the search was on means … it must have happened very early," science and technology specialist Dan Riskin told CTV's Your Morning on Friday. "There's also evidence coming out now from the U.S. Navy, that they did hear an anomalous (sound) in the water around the time that the submersible went missing. So we really are piecing together this story that imploded suddenly on the way down."

The submersible, owned and operated by OceanGate Expeditions, was headed for the Titanic on Sunday when it lost contact with its surface crew, one hour and 45 minutes into the descent.

Hamish Harding, a billionaire and explorer; Paul-Henry (PH) Nargeolet, a French explorer; Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, members of a prominent Pakistani family; and OceanGate CEO and Titan pilot Stockton Rush were on board.

Experts say the construction of the Titan could have been a factor in its demise, which led to an implosion that looks very different than an explosion, Riskin said.

"A lot of people have an intuitive idea of an explosion…Imagine things accelerating away from an origin point and going out in all directions," Riskin said. "(What happened to the Titan) is the opposite."

Water adds pressure to things in the ocean, Riskin said. When an implosion happens inside a submersible, water comes "crashing in." David Marquet, a retired United States Navy captain who commanded the nuclear submarine Santa Fe expert said this is akin to an Empire State Building of lead sitting on top of a person.

"There's a tremendous amount of force, but it's not that it happens and then everything quiets down, there's going to be a lot of energy that is going to send debris in different directions," Riskin said. "A debris field is consistent with that, it looks like something exploded, but it was an implosion that began it, and then a catastrophic failure of all those pieces."

For the five people on board, officials are not clear on whether remains will be found due to the "unforgiving environment" of the ocean.

"It's just really hard to conceptualize exactly what they're looking for at this stage," Riskin said. "But certainly they found parts of the submersible and they know which parts of the submersible are going to be where the people were, and that'll be the place to start the search."

 

To watch the full interview click the video at the top of this article.