BBC2’s documentary Implosion reveals new information about Titan sub disaster

28 May 2025 • Written by Holly Margerrison

2023 Titan submersible implosion: Timeline of events and key things to know

On 18 June 2023, the Titan submersible – operated by US-based company OceanGate Expeditions – lost contact less than two hours into a deep-sea dive to the Titanic wreck site. On board were five people, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush. Days later, debris from the vessel confirmed it had suffered a catastrophic implosion, killing all five occupants.

US Coast Guard courtesy of Pelagic Research Services

The victims were:

Stockton Rush, OceanGate CEO and Titan pilot
Hamish Harding, British billionaire and explorer
Paul-Henri Nargeolet, French Titanic expert
Shahzada Dawood, Pakistani-British businessman
Suleman Dawood, Rush's 19-year-old son

BOAT International's live blog on the OceanGate Titan implosion outlines the key events leading up to and following the Titan sub disaster, including when communication was lost, how the wreckage was found and details of the ongoing investigation.

Credit: U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters

Titan disaster timeline:

Sunday 18 June 2023

08:00: The Titan submersible was launched from its mothership, Polar Prince (previously CCGS Sir Humphrey Gilbert). 09:45: Contact between the mothership and the submersible was lost. The U.S. Navy also noticed “an anomaly consistent with an implosion or explosion”. 15:00: Titan was scheduled to resurface but did not. 17:40: The U.S. Coast Guard was notified.

Monday 19 June

The search for Titan began.

Tuesday 20 June

Speculation began surrounding sonar detecting “banging” noises in the search area. These are later determined to be natural ocean sounds.

Thursday 22 June

Debris and remains of the sub were found around 500 metres from the bow of the Titanic. Citing this, the Coast Guard announced that the submersible had suffered a “catastrophic implosion.”

Sunday 25 June

The Coast Guard arranged a Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) to determine what happened to the Titan.

Wednesday 28 June

The wreckage of the Titan submersible was found on the ocean floor, approximately 300 meters off the bow of the Titanic, and brought to St. John's, a city on Newfoundland island off Canada's Atlantic coast.

Sunday 2 July

OceanGate announced it is ceasing operations.

BBC2’s Titan documentary Implosion: “Everyone who stepped on board after Dive 80 was risking their life”

A first Titan hull suffered cracks through delamination (layers of carbon fibre hull unravelling) in 2019, leading Rush to rebuild a new hull “with slight modifications to the processing of the carbon fibre.”

This is just one of the findings revealed in BBC2’s documentary Implosion which aired last night (Tuesday 27 May).

The cracks happened on Test Dive 47 in the Bahamas as the team was trying to reach a two-mile depth, the depth of the Titanic wreck. Submersible expert Carl Stanley, who worked with Rush, was onboard and heard a sound like a gunshot. “The sounds were continuing, so at some point, collectively, we came to a decision of, well, that's good enough. I'm sure we were within a few percentage points of implosion.” Stanley told the Marine Board of Investigation that he warned Rush over a series of emails but was ignored.

Credit: BBC / Take Me To Titan (BBC Travelshow) / Simon Platts

The documentary also revealed that loud cracks were heard on the replacement hull during Dive 80, which took place on 15 July 2022. Acoustic data obtained by the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) showed that Oceangate had recorded the loud cracks, suggesting that the carbon fibre was again delaminating. “When they heard this loud bang, there should have been all stop, do not continue, investigate further to make sure that the carbon fibre hull was still safe for people to operate in,” said MBI technical advisor Lieutenant Commander Katie Williams. “Everyone who stepped on board after Dive 80 was risking their life.”

Titan continued with three more dives over the following week to complete the season. One year later, on Dive 88, Titan imploded, killing all five passengers on board.

The documentary also spoke to businessman and passenger Alfred Hagan, who paid $200,000 to join the expedition. Hagan was onboard when the sub's titanium nose fell off as the submersible was being pulled up after an aborted dive. Mr Rush had taken the decision that only four of a possible 18 bolts needed to be used to fix the titanium nose to the carbon fibre hull before a dive.

In response to allegations made in the film, Oceangate said they were cooperating with the official investigations, and it would be inappropriate to comment before the conclusion.