What happened to the deceased on the submarine? Conspiracy theories explored in wake of Titan implosion 

As the families of the Titan submarine implosion victims mourn the loss of their loved ones, netizens have taken to the internet to wonder what will happen to their bodies. On Thursday, June 22, 2023, the US Coast Guard confirmed that a “catastrophic implosion" led to the death of five passengers aboard the submarine.

The victims, Suleman Dawood and his father Shahzada, Hamish Harding, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush, descended the depths of the Atlantic on Sunday, June 18, to view the Titanic wreckage. On Thursday, the US Coast Guard confirmed that their submarine suffered from a tragedy of its own.

Before the news of the implosion made headlines, Nicholas Passalacqua, the director of forensic anthropology at Western Carolina University, shared his theory as to what would happen to the passengers if they died. In an interview with Insider, he claimed that the interior environment of the submarine could preserve the bodies of the five passengers.

“Generally in an environment without oxygen, remains will not decompose much because the micro and macro organisms that would work to consume and decompose the tissues will be unable to survive," Passalacqua said.

The same was confirmed by Melissa Connors, the director of the Forensic Investigation Research Station at Colorado Mesa University. She stated that the cold Atlantic temperatures could dry out the bodies if the submarine’s heating systems failed. She told the news outlet that the bodies could turn into “mummies.”

Update (September 19, 2024): Reportedly, as per NBC, presumed human remains were recovered from the Titan's debris field in October 2023. These were "transported for analysis by U.S. medical professionals," as per the U.S. Coast Guard.

"Additional presumed human remains were carefully recovered from within Titan’s debris," the agency had mentioned in their statement.

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Netizens assert the bodies of the deceased will not be uncovered considering the submarine’s implosion

On Thursday, Read Admiral John Mauger from the US Coast Guard confirmed that debris was found following the submersible suffering from an implosion. He claimed that search parties were continuing to look into the underwater area however, recovering the bodies cannot be guaranteed.

Submarine specialist and co-founder of private sub company Sub-Merge Ofer Ketter said in an interview that the submersible must have turned into “dust” after suffering from the implosion. He also added that the pressure chamber where the passengers sat would have also imploded as it could not have withstood the pressure.

While seemingly stating that the bodies of the deceased would have also disintegrated, he added that the passengers would have never known it happened “which is actually very positive in this negative situation.”

Several other netizens also took to the internet to state the same. They noted that recovering the bodies of the passengers would be impossible as they would have turned into “mini particles.”

David Russel, a former Royal Navy submariner told Sky News in an interview that the victims would have been sitting in the pressure hull and the implosion would have killed them “instantaneously.”

In addition, David Mearns, a dive expert and friend of Harding and Nargeolet told in an interview with the BBC:

“The only solace in ant of it is they didn’t suffer for four days.”

Search parties have not confirmed about what must have happened to the deceased victims.