Titan sub spun out of control during previous voyage, resurfaced footage shows

Resurfaced footage from a previous voyage to the Titanic wreck shows the Titan sub had spun out of control.

On June 18, a huge search and rescue mission went underway following the disappearance of OceanGate's vessel, Titan.

Less than two hours into the descent down to the Titanic wreck, crews on the surface lost contact with the sub, which was carrying five passengers.

After several days of searching, debris was discovered near the wreck and it was determined by the US Coast Guard that there had most likely been a 'catastrophic implosion', which had presumably killed all those on board.

And footage, which was shown on the BBC's Travel Show documentary last year, shows those on board the Titan were just 300 meters from the wreck site when former pilot, Scott Griffith, asks: "Am I spinning?"

BBC

One passenger then replies: "Yes."

Griffith then replies: "On my god" before saying that they have a 'problem'.

"There's something wrong with my thrusters. I'm thrusting and nothing is happening," he said.

"When we're thrusting forwards one of the thruster is thrusting backwards right now so the only thing I can do right now is a 360."

Luckily, the crew were able to reprogram the controls and the sub began to move forward.

Passenger Reneta Rojas then told the BBC: "You know what I was thinking, we're not going to make it.

"We're literally 300m (600 feet) from the Titanic, and although we are already in the debris field, we can't go anywhere but go in circles."

BBC

She continued: "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'."

Rush was also filmed downplaying a 'really loud bang' that had been heard by a crew member, saying: "Almost every deep-sea sub makes a noise at some point."

Speaking in the same documentary, Jaden Pan, who'd previously been aboard the vessel before, told the BBC that the crew were told by Rush to go to 'sleep' when a battery 'went kaput' during a mission in 2021.

OceanGate/Becky Kagan Schott

"At first, I thought he was joking, because we were over two hours into our expedition and so close to the bottom," Pan said.

"But then he explained that one of the batteries went kaput and we were having trouble using the electronic drops for the weights, so it would be hard for us to get back up to the surface."

Rush then explained that it would take 24 hours for the weights to dissolve which would allow them to resurface so suggested that they 'sleep' in the meantime.

One half of the crew were comfortable with the idea while the other half wanted to return to the surface as soon as possible.

Rush then used the hydraulics to drop weight, allowing the vessel to return to the surface.