For a full minute, the five occupants of the Titan submersible appeared to know they were heading for their deaths, according to Spanish submarine expert Jose Luis Martin.

According to what the expert told his country’s Nius newspaper, the OceanGate submarine lost its stability due to an electrical fault, which left it without a propulsion system. So it was driven to the bottom “like an arrow” and with its porthole pointing down.

He further calculated that when the submarine was at a depth of about 1,600-1,700 meters, it began free-falling “as if it were a stone and without any control” for about 3,000 feet, until at 8,600 feet it “popped like a balloon” due to the rapidly changing pressure. .

He estimated that the five passengers lived a terrifying experience in total darkness and piled on top of each other throughout the fall, which lasted from 48 to 71 seconds.

The submarine then lost contact with its support vessel on Sunday, June 18, during the descent to the wreck of the Titanic, and a few days later, after a major operation, its wreckage was recovered.

“When the submarine reached 1,700 meters, it experienced an electrical failure. It was left without an engine and without a propulsion system. That’s when it lost contact with the Polar Prince,” the Spanish expert said, leading to the hypothesis that the lack of propulsion caused it to lose stability and begin to descend rapidly towards the bottom.

“The Titan changed position and began to drop vertically downwards, like an arrow, due to all 400 kilograms of passengers that were stacked in the porthole,” added Martin.

“Imagine the horror, fear and anguish. It must have been like a horror movie. Due to the depth and the lack of both natural light and electricity, the group would be in total darkness as they sank to the bottom of the Atlantic.

In this period of time they realized everything. It is hard to fathom what they experienced in those moments. After that 48 seconds, or one minute, collapse and instantaneous sudden death occur,” he added.