What happens during a catastrophic implosion and what causes the extreme reaction?

It has been confirmed that the sub imploded (Picture: Oceangate Expeditions)

The desperate search for the missing OceanGate submersible Titan ended with the worst possible outcome.

It was confirmed on Thursday, June 22 that the doomed sub – missing since Sunday, June 18 – had imploded after debris was found on the seabed around 480 metres away from the Titanic wreck.

All five passengers – including British billionaire Hamish Harding and 19-year-old student Suleman Dawood – lost their lives as a result. OceanGate issued a statement saying ‘Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.’

Questions are now being asked about what could have led to the sub imploding on its expedition to the infamous shipwreck, which has laid at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean since 1912.

On Sunday, an investigation into the causes of the disaster was opened by the US Coast Guard.

At this time, it is not known what caused the 22-foot submersible to implode or when exactly it occurred during the dive – but here, we take a look at what actually happens to a sub when it implodes?

What happens to a submersible when it implodes?

An implosion is effectively the opposite of an explosion: rather than pressure building on the inside and causing something to explode, the ocean generates pressure on the outside of a vessel, collapsing walls inward. 

An implosion occurs if any part of the submersible’s hull – in the case of Titan, it was made out of carbon fibre – has suffered a small crack or fault.

When an implosion occurs, the sub effectively collapses in on itself due to the high pressure of the water.

At the Titanic wreck – which is 12,500 feet below the surface -the pressure is 400 atmospheres (6000 PSI), nearly 380 times greater than the surface.

At the depths the Titan was at, it would take 20 milliseconds for an implosion to crush a hull, according to Eric Fusil, a submarine expert and associate professor in the University of Adelaide’s School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering.

‘So it’s nearly instantaneous and it’s absolutely very, very noisy’ Fusil told USA Today.

What happens to the human body during an implosion?

Anybody in a submersible during an implosion would be crushed instantly.

As highlighted by Fusil, the implosion itself would have happened incredibly quickly, meaning that the passengers would have been unaware it had occurred.

The debris field was found 1600 feet away from the Titanic (Picture: DailyMail.com)

Dr. Dale Molé, the former director of undersea medicine and radiation health for the US Navy, told the Daily Mail: ‘It would have been so sudden, that they wouldn’t even have known that there was a problem, or what happened to them.

‘It’s like being here one minute, and then the switch is turned off. You’re alive one millisecond, and the next millisecond you’re dead.’

Nicolai Roterman, a deep-sea ecologist at the University of Portsmouth, UK, concurred:’If there was any kind of hull breach, the occupants would succumb to the ocean in a near instant.’

Tributes have poured in for the crew since the confirmation of the news.

In their statement, OceanGate said: ‘We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost.

‘These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans.

‘This is an extremely sad time for our dedicated employees who are exhausted and grieving deeply over this loss.’

Rear Admiral Mauger of the US Coastguard said ‘‘On behalf of the United States Coast Guard, and the entire unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families.’

MORE : Did OceanGate CEO reveal masterplan behind Titanic sub dives six years ago?

MORE : Ex-Navy submarine captain shares two theories on what happened to OceanGate Titan

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The fate of the Titan is now known.