Watch: OceanGate's Titan submersible spins out of control in old expedition video

Leading pilot Scott Griffith lost control of the thrusters, which was not mounted properly

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Photo: AFP

Published: Thu 6 Jul 2023, 5:02 PM

Last updated: Thu 6 Jul 2023, 5:15 PM

The Titan submarine, which likely suffered a “catastrophic implosion” that killed all five crew members on board last month, had spun out of control during one of its expeditions in 2022, according to footage that has surfaced online.

The vessel was carrying five passengers at that time too, and they were left terrified after getting stuck for hours in the depths of the Atlantic, according to a BBC documentary.

A clip from the documentary, shot inside the submarine, shows Titan spinning 360 degrees after its then-leading pilot, Scott Griffith, lost control, The Mirror reported.

What led to the 360-degree spin?

In the newly surfaced footage, Griffith could be heard explaining the problem he encountered when they were just 300 metres away from the resting place of the Titanic.

“There's something wrong with my thrusters. I'm thrusting and nothing is happening,” Griffith said.

The submarine had started spinning uncontrollably because one of its thrusters wasn’t mounted properly. The thrusters were pushing the vessel in opposite directions, reported The Daily Mail.

Griffith worked on his computer to fix the problem before asking the crew if the vessel was spinning. He then told them, “Oh no, we have a problem. When we are thrusting to move forward, one of the thrusters is going backwards right now”.

@dailymail A 2022 BBC documentary shows 5 people experiencing a TECHNICAL ISSUE with the Titan’s thrusters 300 meters from the Titanic’s wreck #fyp #titanic #missingsub #titanicsub #oceangate #documentary #scary ♬ original sound - Daily Mail

How did OceanGate fix the problem?

Meanwhile, OceanGate CEO Rush tried to help the crew from the mothership, according to the documentary.

“The right stick is to move forward, back, turn left, turn right. And what's happening is he's trying to go forward but it's taking a turn,” he said, speaking to the crew about the PlayStation controller used to operate the submarine. Rush was among the five victims of the Titan submarine tragedy.

The controller had to be then reprogrammed which allowed the submarine to move forward and resume the expedition.

Passenger shares experience

Following the frightening mission, passenger Renata Rojas told the BBC, “You know what I was thinking, we're not going to make it”. She added that they were 300 metres away from the wreckage of the Titanic and couldn’t go anywhere as the vessel began to spin.

Training in different jobs to help the mission objectives is part of the experience in any Expedition! The glamour shots of our Titanic Expedition this summer @OceanGateExped pic.twitter.com/nBC9PxFmeE
— Renata Rojas (@RojasRenata) August 21, 2022

After the controller was fixed, Rojas said, “We were just so happy we had figured out how to move forward. We started clapping inside the submersible and saying: 'Yes we can go'”.

Last month, the Titan, a 21-foot tourist submersible operated by OceanGate, was lost in the North Atlantic on the way to the Titanic wreckage, killing Dubai-based British billionaire Hamish Harding, UK-based Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, French submarine operator Paul-Henri Nargeolet and CEO Rush.

The Titan lost contact with its mothership on June 18, triggering a multi-nation search. Days later, the US Coast Guard found Titan’s debris and said that the vessel suffered a “catastrophic implosion”, which is believed to have killed the crew instantly.

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