Victims on doomed Titan sub likely knew their fate one minute before dying

Harrowing new details have emerged about what the final moments looked like for the five people killed on the doomed Titan sub.

The five people who died aboard the OceanGate submersible likely knew in their final moments of the catastrophe that was about to happen.

Spanish engineer and underwater expert José Luis Martín suggested a timeline for the doomed Titan before it was destroyed June 18 — less than two hours into its dive to the Titanic shipwreck.

“During the controlled immersion of the Titan, there must have been an electrical fault, which left the craft without thrust,” Mr Martin told Spanish news outlet NIUS, according to the English language Diario AS.

“The Titan changes position and falls like an arrow vertically because the 400 kilos of passengers that were at the porthole unbalance the submersible.

Mr Martin said passengers would’ve been piled on top of each other in terrifying total darkness throughout the fall, which would have lasted between 48 and 71 seconds.

The submersible, Titan, which was destroyed on a trip to see the wreckage of the Titanic.

“Everyone rushes and crowds on top of each other. Imagine the horror, the fear, and the agony. It had to be like a horror movie,” added the expert, who believes that everything happened during 48 to 71 seconds of free fall.”

The deadly malfunction is thought to have occurred at a depth of about 5,500 feet (1676m), according to Mr Martin.

“At this point, the submersible begins to fall headlong towards the sea floor, and with control and safety functions damaged, it can no longer be manoeuvred,” he said in his report.

“The pilot (OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush) couldn’t activate the emergency lever to drop weights (and return to the surface),” the expert said, adding that the lever was an inadequate device for such an emergency.

“In that period of time, they are realising everything. And what’s more, in complete darkness. It’s difficult to get an idea of what they experienced in those moments.

“As it fell to the depths of the ocean, the hull would have been subjected to a sudden increase in underwater pressure” — leading to a powerful compression of the sub’s carbon-fibre hull at a depth of around 9,000 feet.”

OceanGate announced an end of deep-sea expeditions to the wreckage of the Titanic after a catastrophic implosion killed Rush along with British adventurer Hamish Harding, 58; French veteran Titanic explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77; British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son Suleman.

All the Titan submersible passengers were killed.

It comes as company documents revealed the tourist sub only reached Titanic depths 13 times out of its 90 attempts.

The 14 per cent success rate comes despite the whopping ticket price of $A375,000 per passenger on the OceanGate expedition.

In a four-page liability waiver that highlights the possibility of death three times on the first page, passengers diving on the Titan sub are informed only 13 attempts have reached the 3,800-metre depth of the massive shipwreck.

“The experimental submersible vessel has conducted fewer than 90 dives, and 13 of those dives reached the depth of the Titanic,” the waiver reads. “Prior to my participation in the Expedition there have been as few as 13 dives to Titanic depths in the submersible.”

Originally published as Victims on doomed Titan sub likely knew their fate one minute before dying