According to oceanographer and engineer Jose Luis Martin, the crew of the doomed Titan submarine may have had time to absorb the gravity of their predicament before the unimaginable happened.
Martin likened the incident to a scene from a horror film, saying that he believed the jet had nosedived after an electrical failure, leading them to plunge – in complete darkness — to the sea floor. The submersible would have been in free fall for 48 and 71 seconds until it imploded. At that time, the occupants would have been piled on one another.
The oceanographer told the Spanish news outlet NIUS that the lack of thrust experienced by the Titan during the controlled submerge may have been the consequence of an electrical malfunction. Without propulsion, the longitudinal stability of the Titan would have been compromised by the weight of the passengers and pilot, which, combined, amounted to roughly 400 kg and was concentrated at the front of the Titan near the viewport.
Since the submersible’s control and safety functions were compromised, it would plummet to the ocean floor, and Oceangate CEO Stockton Rush would have been unable to drop the sub’s weights and return to the surface in time, as Martin explained.
Martin stated that the submersible crew would be helpless at this point and would be aware of their predicament.
The Titan would topple forward and fall like an arrow straight down as the submersible became unstable from the weight of the passengers at the porthole.
Martin painted a bleak picture, asking one to try and fathom the depths of this despair, horror, and agony in the dark, with bodies tangled up with one another.
Martin speculated that the whole sequence of events occurred between 48 and 71 seconds, during which time the passengers and crew “realize everything.” And to make things even worse, they are in total darkness. It’s tough to put yourself in their shoes and try to picture life at that time.
The submersible implodes Within 48 seconds to one minute, and the inhabitants are killed. Mercifully, in an instant.
