NOAA Releases Audio of Titan Submersible Implosion Incident

WASHINGTON — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released an audio recording Wednesday believed to capture the moment of the Titan submersible’s implosion. The recording, which lasts 23 seconds, features static followed by a loud booming noise, and then more static.

The sound was recorded by a passive acoustic recorder approximately 900 miles from where the Titan was last known to operate before losing contact. The incident occurred during a deep-sea dive to explore the wreck of the Titanic at a depth of 12,000 feet in the Atlantic Ocean.

Owned by OceanGate, the Titan submersible lost communication with its support vessel just one hour and 45 minutes into its descent. Search efforts commenced immediately, lasting four days until debris was eventually discovered on the ocean floor.

Among the five victims who perished in the implosion were OceanGate co-founder Stockton Rush, renowned deep-sea explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and wealthy adventurers Hamish Harding and the Dawood father-son duo, Shahzada and Suleman Dawood.

In the wake of the tragedy, OceanGate, based in Washington state, suspended its operations. Reports indicated that Rush had overstated the project’s timeline and misrepresented issues regarding the vessel’s hull safety.

Devan Markham, a former digital producer at NewsNation, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.