The Truth About the Titan Sub Implosion HAUNTING QUESTIONS & SHOCKING ANSWERS

THEY WERE PROMISED THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME TWO MILES BELOW THE OCEAN'S SURFACE. NOW THE WORLD IS LEARNING WHAT REALLY LED TO THE TRAGEDY ON JUNE 18, 2023

- EILEEN FINAN and TOM CUNNEFF

Bonnie Carl remembers the text she received from a friend in June 2023: “Have you seen? OceanGate’s in the news.” Her heart sank. She suspected what had happened—and who had suffered for it: “But I thought, ‘Jesus Christ, I don’t want to be right.’”

On June 18 the submersible Titan, built by Carl’s former employer, the headline-grabbing exploration company OceanGate, went missing off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, as it headed 12,500 ft. beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean to the wreck of the Titanic. The world was gripped by the search for the strange vessel and its five wealthy passengers and crew, counting down the hours before oxygen would run out some two miles deep in ink-black water. Then, four days after it disappeared, shredded pieces of the 22-ft. sub were found on the ocean floor near the century-old resting place of the doomed liner ithad sought. Titan imploded under the crushing weight of the sea, killing all four passengers along with OceanGate cofounder Stockton Rush, 61, who was piloting the vehicle. “When they found the wreckage, it gutted me. It still does,” says Carl, breaking down in tears. “I’m angry. This shouldn’t have happened.”

PUSHING BOUNDARIES OceanGate's Stockton Rush (in 2017, with the modified video game controller used to steer his vessels) cultivated widespread media attention with his promise to allow more people to explore the most famous marine disaster in history: the Titanic.