23-05-2025
‘What was that?': Chilling footage from OceanGate tragedy reveals moment OceanGate CEO's wife hears catastrophic implosion
A terrifying recording released for the first time appears to pinpoint the moment crew aboard a support ship tracking the doomed Titan submersible realised the vessel was in danger.
The new footage, which was released to the BBC by the US Coastguard, captures the moment Wendy Rush, the wife of Stockton Rush, tries to contact her husband during their descent to the wreck of the Titanic.
Mr Rush, Hamish Harding, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Shazhada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Sulaiman lost their lives in the tragedy.
Ms Rush, who was monitoring the sub's progress from a support ship, can be seen reacting to a sudden bang.
Oblivious to the true cause of the sound, she then turns to a team member sitting behind her and asks 'what was that bang?'
She unknowingly had just heard the moment the Titan submersible imploded - killing her husband and four others on board instantly.
Moments later, Ms Rush received a text message saying the sub had dropped two weights.
While she initially assumed this meant the sub was functioning normally, investigators now believe the 'bang' she heard was the moment the sub imploded.
It is now suspected the phantom message she received was in fact sent just before the implosion but its arrival was delayed due to the sound of the implosion, the BBC has reported.
The distressing video of Ms Rush forms evidence in the two-year long investigation by the US Coastguard Marine Board into the sub's catastrophic implosion.
The bizarre maritime tragedy captured the world's attention after the Titan disappeared during its scheduled dive on June 18, 2023.
It later became clear that the sub had been destroyed in a catastrophic implosion after fragments of the Titan were found in a debris field not far from the Titanic wreck.
