Ship footage captures sound of Titan sub imploding

Prior to the fatal dive, warnings had been raised by deep sea experts and some former Oceangate employees about Titan's design. One described it as an "abomination" and said the disaster was "inevitable".

Titan had never undergone an independent safety assessment, known as certification, and a key concern was that its hull - the main body of the sub where the engers sat - was made of layers of carbon fibre mixed with resin.

The USCG says it has now identified the moment the hull started to fail.

Carbon fibre is a highly unusual material for a deep sea submersible because it is unreliable under pressure. A known problem is that the layers of carbon fibre can separate, a process called delamination.

The USCG believes that the carbon fibre layers of the hull started to break apart during a dive to the Titanic, which took place a year before the disaster - the 80th dive that Titan had made.

engers on board reported hearing a loud bang as the sub made its way back to the surface. They said that at the time Mr Rush said that this noise was the sub shifting in its frame.

But the USCG says the data collected from sensors fitted to Titan shows that the bang was caused by delamination.

"Delamination at dive 80 was the beginning of the end," said Lieutenant Commander Katie Williams from USCG.

"And everyone that stepped onboard the Titan after dive 80 was risking their life."

Titan took engers on three more dives in the summer of 2022 - two to the Titanic and one to a nearby reef, before it failed on its next deep dive, in June 2023.

Businessman Oisin Fanning was onboard Titan for the last two dives before the disaster.

"If you're asking a simple question: 'Would I go again knowing what I know now"Supplied via Reuters / AFP Stockton Rush, Hamish Harding, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/>Supplied via Reuters / AFP