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THIS IS the horrifying moment the doomed Titan submarine was plunged into darkness during an ominous test dive.
The sub would later implode in a tragedy that stunned the world – and left its five passengers dead.
Brit Hamish Harding, 58, along with father and son Shahzada, 48, and Suleman Dawood, 19, as well as French national Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, tragically lost their lives in the June 2023 disaster.
Then OceanGate Expeditions Chief Executive Stockton Rush, 61 also perished on the fateful voyage.
A frantic search that captured the world’s attention was sparked after contact was lost with the sub.
While there was hope that the passengers might be found alive, it was later confirmed the vessel had imploded – killing all on board.
Rush had previously taken the sub down to sea off the Bahamas during testing four years earlier.
Passengers on this trip have outlined how the sub ran into trouble during in a forthcoming documentary on BBC Two next Tuesday at 9pm.
In a terrifying moment, they are said to have heard a noise “like a gunshot”, after which the exterior lights went off.
The sub then lost full vertical thrust availability when one of its battery banks failed.
One passenger claimed the vessel was “within a few percentage points of implosion” during the April 2019 trip.
Submersibles expert Karl Stanley told the documentary: “I did not even come close to appreciating the real danger.
“I was the one that was like ‘hey, capture this moment’. I was happy to be there.”
Underwater electronics technician Petros Mathioudakis was also on the dive.
He said: “I was aware that this was extremely risky. And Stockton was very clear.
“He said do you have a wife, and I said ‘no’. Do you have kids? And I said ‘no’. And he said OK, you’re in.”
Describing the frightening moment, he mentioned: “The first time the carbon fiber made a noise in that hull, it was incredibly loud – it resembled a gunshot.
“Any noise would have been loud – that was loud.
“Everyone stops talking for a little bit and ‘OK, I think we’re OK’, you know.”
Along with the loud noises, the sub’s lights went dark – with a video from onboard showing the nerve-shredding conditions.
Stanley said: “The supposed goal of the trip was to test it to the exact depth of the Titanic. They got 96% of the way there.
“The cracking sounds were continuing, so at some point collectively we came to a decision of ‘well, that’s good enough.”
Despite warnings from experts and former OceanGate staff, Titan continued to make dives.
How the Titan tragedy unfolded
By Katie Davis, Chief Foreign Reporter (Digital)
FIVE men plunged beneath the surface of the North Atlantic in a homemade sub in a bid to explore the Titanic wreckage.
Four passengers paid £195,000 each to go on the sub, with the fifth member of the trip being a crew member.
But what was supposed to be a short trip spiralled into days of agony as the doomed Titan vanished without a trace on June 18, 2023.
The daring mission had been months in the making – and almost didn’t happen at the hands of harsh weather conditions in Newfoundland, Canada.
In what is now a haunting Facebook post, passenger Hamish Harding wrote: “Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023.”
“A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow.”
It would be his final Facebook post.
The following morning, he and four others – led by Stockton Rush – began the 12,5000ft descent towards the bottom of the Atlantic.
But as it made its way down into the depths, the vessel lost all contact with its mother ship on the surface, the Polar Prince.
It sparked a frantic four-day search for signs of life, with the hunt gripping the entire world.
There was hope that by some miracle, the crew was alive and desperately waiting to be saved.
But that sparked fears rescue teams faced a race against time as the passengers only had a 96-hour oxygen supply when they set out, which would be quickly dwindling.
Then, when audio of banging sounds was detected under the water, it inspired hope that the victims were trapped and signalling to be rescued.
It heartbreakingly turned out that the banging noises were likely either ocean noises or from other search ships, the US Navy determined.
Countries around the world deployed their resources to aid the search, and within days the Odysseus remote-operated vehicle (ROV) was sent down to where the ghostly wreck of the Titanic sits.
The plan was for the ROV to hook onto the sub and bring it up 10,000ft, where it would meet another ROV before heading to the surface.
But any hopes of a phenomenal rescue were dashed when Odysseus came across a piece of debris from the sub around 1,600ft from the Titanic.
The rescue mission tragically turned into a salvage task, and the heartbroken families of those on board were told the devastating news.
It was confirmed by the US Coast Guard that the sub had suffered a “catastrophic implosion”.
Deep-sea explorer Victor Vescovo said: “I specifically told them that it was simply a matter of time before it failed catastrophically.”
The Titan’s disappearance in 2023 led to a fraught four-day search, fuelled by the hope that the sub could be reached before its passengers ran out of oxygen.
However, it was later established the vessel had imploded.
Another clip from the day of the tragedy shows Wendy Rush – Stockton Rush‘s wife – looking at a computer used to receive messages from the Titan when a deep metallic thud rings out.
All five people onboard were killed instantly when the vessel collapsed under immense pressure at around 3,300m of depth.
