OceanGate CEO’s wife Wendy Rush recounts haunting moment she heard Titan implode: ‘What was that bang?’

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush's wife Wendy Rush was aboard the support vessel Polar Prince when the Titan submersible imploded during its 2023 dive to the Titanic wreck. While closely monitoring the mission, she heard a sudden, sharp pop over the communication system, a sound she later came to understand signified the moment the vessel suffered a catastrophic failure deep in the North Atlantic.

"What was that bang?" Wendy Rush questioned, unaware it was the that moment the Titan imploded deep in the North Atlantic, resulting in the immediate deaths of all five individuals on board.

What does the footage show?

Footage released by the US Coast Guard and obtained by the BBC discloses the Titan submersible’s final communications. Wendy, a director at OceanGate, was monitoring the dive when contact was abruptly lost about 90 minutes into the descent. At a depth of nearly 11,000 feet, the submersible experienced a catastrophic implosion.

Those killed instantly comprised Stockton Rush, British explorer Hamish Harding, Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani billionaire Shahzada Dawood, and his 19-year-old son, Suleman.

The BBC documentary Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster revealed that Titan’s carbon fibre hull had featured indications of structural failure during a previous dive a year earlier. “Delamination at dive 80 was the beginning of the end. And everyone who stepped onboard the Titan after dive 80 was risking their life," BBC quoted US Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Katie Williams as saying.

Despite expert warnings, OceanGate proceeded with operating the submersible. The doomed 2023 expedition marked the Titan's 88th dive and its first deep-sea mission of the year.

According to a report by the New York Post, the tragedy was compounded by confusion when the support vessel received a message from the Titan shortly after the implosion, indicating that it had released two ballast weights to ascend. Wendy read the message aloud, still unaware of the catastrophe that had already occurred deep below the surface.

Meanwhile, underwater sensors detected the sound of the implosion—a sudden, loud burst followed by complete silence.

The Coast Guard recovered debris from the ocean floor after the tragedy. It comprised parts of the Titan submersible, clothing, business cards, and Titanic-themed stickers.