Viral animation video shows how Titan submersible could have imploded

A video has gone viral on the internet that claims to show how exactly the ill-fated Titan submersible imploded while carrying five passengers to the Titanic shipwreck in the Atlantic.

The animation, shared by a YouTube channel, AiTelly, detailed the reasons behind the accident highlighting Titan’s experimental design.

The Titan submarine suffered an implosion due to “very high hydrostatic pressure of the surrounding water which happened within a fraction of a millisecond,” according to the animation, which has 6 million views on the platform.

The video explained that at the depth (around 12,500 feet below sea level — more than four-and-half times the height of the Burj Khalifa) where the Titanic’s wreckage is resting, the pressure per square inch is around 5,600 pounds. It is almost 400 times the pressure we experience on the surface.

The Titan, a 21-foot vessel operated by OceanGate Expeditions, was lost in deep sea in what authorities have described as a "catastrophic implosion", killing Dubai-based British billionaire Hamish Harding, UK-based Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, French submarine operator Paul-Henri Nargeolet and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.

Why did the Titan implode?

The video stated that existing submarines are made using steel, aluminium, and titanium, which prevents the structure from collapsing. “But the Titan has had an experimental design,” the video claimed.

It added that Titan was built using mainly carbon fibres, which are lighter than steel and titanium. However, as per the animation, the properties of carbon fibre for deep sea applications have not been “well understood”. The video underlined that carbon fibre can crack or break suddenly and that Titan imploded because of its “weak carbon fibre hull”.

Lack of space inside the submersible

The video also stated the dimensions of the Titan submersible highlighting how small it was. It showed that the vessel had limited room for the five passengers who had to sit on the floor. The creators of the video also gave a sneak peek into the interior of the vessel including the controls, systems, and toilet, through animation.

Passengers knew their fate

Meanwhile, Spanish submarine expert Jose Luis Martin said that the passengers who died in the submersible tragedy had likely realised that their vessel would be imploding a minute before the accident, reported Daily Mail.

The expert, in an interview with Spanish newspaper Nius, said that the vessel might have suffered an electrical failure and lost stability in the absence of propulsion. Following this, the submersible could have dropped towards the seabed like an arrow with its porthole downwards.

Jose Luis Martin believes that the submarine kept falling for around 3,000 feet before it “popped like a balloon” at a depth of about 8,600 feet.

According to Martin, the fall could have lasted for 48 to 71 seconds during which the crew would have fallen on each other.

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