Top secret U.S. Navy technology reportedly detected a bang when and where a submersible carrying five passengers to visit the wreckage of the Titanic disappeared on Sunday.
Using unspecified acoustic technology designed to spot enemy submarines, Navy officials began listening for OceanGate’s Titan shortly after the exploratory vessel went missing, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The sound was reportedly heard hours after the submersible launched in the north Atlantic Ocean. It was transmitted from the area where debris identified as the missing ship was located Thursday.
“The U.S. Navy conducted an analysis of acoustic data and detected an anomaly consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general vicinity of where the Titan submersible was operating when communications were lost,” a senior U.S. Navy official told the Journal.
While what the Navy heard wasn’t definitely Titan’s final moment, the information gleaned from that observation was reportedly shared with those involved in the search-and-rescue mission that became a recovery effort.
Rescue workers hoped throughout the week to find the missing passengers, who theoretically had enough oxygen to last through Thursday morning. The Titan’s crew was last heard from an hour and 45 minutes after beginning their dive to see the remains of the ill-fated Titanic ship, which sunk to the ocean floor in 1912.
The U.S. Coast Guard believes the 22-foot carbon-fiber and titanium craft was felled by a “catastrophic implosion” that no one could have survived.
Earlier this week, University of Sydney professor of marine robotics Stefan Williams, whose lab works with submersibles, told Insider an implosion would have happened “quite quickly and there would be little chance of surviving” if that turned out to be the case for Titan.
The Coast Guard confirmed a remote-operated vehicle located five pieces of the shattered craft among the debris on the ocean floor. No human remains have been found.
Filmmaker James Cameron, who directed 1997′s Oscar-winning film “Titanic,” was friends with Titan passenger Paul-Henri Nargeolet. He’s astounded by Titan’s story.
“For a very similar tragedy, where warning signs went unheeded, to take place at the same exact site, with all the diving that’s going on all around the world — it’s just astonishing,” Cameron told ABC News.
Reports about concerns over OceanGate Expeditions’ submersibles program came to light following Titan’s final voyage.
The company was reportedly the subject of a 2018 lawsuit brought by its former director of marine operations, who claimed he was fired after he pointed out safety issues with the underwater vessel.