An animation depicting the implosion of the ill-fated Titan sub has garnered more than 5 million views in just 11 days since its upload on YouTube.
The 6-minute, 20-second video was posted on June 30 by AiTelly, a YouTube channel known for sharing original 4K and 3D engineering animations.
Titan is believed to have imploded on June 18 while descending to the legendary Titanic shipwreck at a depth of approximately 5,500 feet in the North Atlantic. Tragically, all five occupants aboard the submersible lost their lives.
The narration in the animation explains the concept of implosion as a collapse inward on an object itself, contrasting it with explosion which expands outward.
At the extreme depth of the Titanic wreck, the video highlights the immense pressure of approximately 5,600 pounds per square inch, nearly 400 times the pressure experienced at the surface.
The animation attributes the demise of Titan to the high hydrostatic pressure in the surrounding water, which caused the OceanGate sub to crumple within a fraction of a millisecond.
The video also blames the catastrophic failure on Titan’s experimental carbon fiber construction, stating that traditional submarine designs using steel, titanium, and aluminum have been able to withstand such pressures.
The animation was created using open-source software called Blender, according to an anonymous spokesperson from AiTelly. The team gathered information and measurements from OceanGate’s website and Google, and then used Blender’s 3D modeling software to create the animation, which took approximately 12 hours to complete.
After releasing an initial video with some corrections, AiTelly re-uploaded the updated version, which subsequently went viral.
The aftermath of Titan’s implosion led to accusations against OceanGate boss Stockton Rush for disregarding safety warnings. Emails reviewed by the BBC revealed that consultant Rob McCallum had raised concerns about certification and safety measures, but Rush dismissed them as baseless.
Despite warnings, Titan proceeded on its deep-sea expedition without obtaining certification from an independent agency.
Text exchanges between Jay Bloom, a potential passenger who withdrew from the trip due to safety concerns, and Rush showed the CEO downplaying the worries and asserting that the Titan was safer than other activities such as helicopter flights or scuba diving.
Tragically, Rush and the four passengers on board—British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman Dawood, and French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet—lost their lives in the implosion.
According to Spanish engineer and underwater expert José Luis Martín, the victims were likely aware of their fate between 48 and 71 seconds before the disaster occurred.
The animation has provided a visual representation of the implosion, shedding light on the events that unfolded in complete darkness at extreme depths.
