CEO of doomed Titanic expedition joked 'what could go wrong?' in eerie radio interview weeks before disaster, new documentary reveals as experts describe passengers' 'torturous' last moments on Titan

The CEO of the doomed Titanic exploration company whose submarine imploded, killing all five people onboard including him, eerily joked 'what could go wrong?' just weeks before the disaster. 

Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate, gave an interview to St John's Radio, a Canadian radio show just a few weeks before the ill-fated Titan sub imploded during an expedition to the wreck of the Titanic off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, in June 2023.

He coolly joked during the interview: 'What could go wrong?' 

Rush told the interviewer that he chose to launch the Titan submarine in June as that time of the year was when the waters around the wreck of the Titanic were the 'calmest'. 

'So with the Polar Prince [the vessel that carried the submarine out to sea], that ice capability we thought, let's move the mission a little earlier this year.

'We specifically designed the submersible for this mission', he added. 

Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate, (pictured) gave an interview to a Canadian radio show just a few weeks before the ill-fated Titan sub imploded

The Titan imploded during an expedition to the wreck of the Titanic off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, in June 2023 (pictured)

The clip was found by the makers of the Channel 5 documentary, Minute by Minute: The Titan Sub Disaster, which will be broadcast tonight and tomorrow evening at 9pm. 

There were five passengers on board the doomed vessel; Tourists Hamish Harding, 58, Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, French Navy pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush. 

Experts who spoke to documentary's creators said that the last moments of the passengers would've been 'absolutely torturous.'

Dik Barton, the former vice president of RMS Titanic Inc., a company that owns aroud 5,500 relics from the Titanic, said: 'The focus of both Stockton and PH would've been trying to gain some control of the submersible, trying to recover some height and getting the vessel stable and back to surface. 

'That would've been their total and utter focus. 

'The fear that would generate, I can't even comprehend. The last little while, I think would've been absolutely torturous.'

The world was gripped as rescuers urgently doubled their efforts to track down the missing sub before oxygen was expected to run out. 

The Pelagic search team's submersible, Odysseus 6K, reached the seafloor after days of searching and on June 22 found debris of the sub, around 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic.

Titan had imploded as a result of enormous water pressure bearing down on the vessel - killing everyone on board in what was likely a matter of milliseconds.

The world was gripped as rescuers urgently doubled their efforts to track down the missing sub before oxygen was expected to run out

Five people were onboard, including British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding and Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman

French Navy veteran PH Nargeolet (left) was in the sub along with Stockton Rush (right), CEO of the OceanGate Expedition

Minute by Minute: The Titan Sub Disaster details the events leading up to Titan's ill-fated expedition to the Titanic wreck.

READ MORE: OceanGate will SUSPEND all exploration and business operations following death of Titanic Five

The documentary, by ITN productions for Channel 5, also asks what lessons can be learned from the disaster.

Investigators believe the Titan imploded as it made its descent into deep North Atlantic waters on June 18 - before the banging noise was recorded.

The sub was launched around 8am that day in the Atlantic Ocean, 400 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, at the site of the Titanic shipwreck.

The five passengers started to descend as Rush piloted the vessel, but at 9.45am - an hour and 45 minutes into the dive - it lost contact with its Polar Prince mothership.

OceanGate Expeditions took eight hours to report the missing sub to the US Coast Guard after it lost contact.

That led to a massive international response to rescue the five passengers.

As the world held its breath, ships from across the globe started to make the trek to help search for the missing sub while the hours and estimated oxygen ticked down.

However, it was later announced the five people aboard the sub were believed to have been killed in a likely implosion, and that a US Navy monitoring system had picked up a possible sound of the implosion in the initial descent.

According to experts, the 'banging' could have been from search equipment in the area, marine life such as whales or even just sounds from the depths of the Atlantic

Banging noises were detected in 30-minute intervals by underwater sonar devices called 'sonobuoys'. Graphic shows how they were used during last year's search

Officials soon announced that the five people aboard the sub were believed to have been killed, but search efforts continued.

Confirming the worst fears, it was revealed on June 22 that debris form the imploded sub was found near the site of the Titanic.

Ten days after its disappearance, the Coast Guard announced that 'presumed human remains' had been found in the wreckage of the sub.

OceanGate, based in Washington, shuttered its door amid the search and after the disaster and questions flew about the future of deep-sea tourism at the site.

'We'd spent four or five days... expecting to go down there and perform a miracle,' deep sea expert Jesse Doren told Sky after the discovery of the wreck.

'Obviously, our sense of disappointment is miniscule compared to the people who are close to the families of those who were lost.'

According to experts, the 'banging' could have been from search equipment in the area, marine life such as whales or even just sounds from the depths of the Atlantic.

Dr Jamie Pringle, Reader in Forensic Geosciences at Keele University, also told MailOnline at the time that he believes the sound was 'manmade'.

A desperate search for the sub was launched after it lost contact with its mothership and vanished during an expedition to the Titanic wreck on Sunday June 18, 2023 

'The ocean is a very noisy place with passing ships, submarines, fishing vessels, and indeed search vessels in this case.'

Matthew Schanck, founder of maritime search and rescue organisation Marsar International, also suspected a manmade origin.

'Our understanding is the noise could have a number of sources,' he told MailOnline. 'The subsurface of the ocean is a noisy environment.

'But given the high density of vessels in the area operating their propulsion systems and heavy machinery/equipment in the area, this may have been picked up by sonobuoys.'

Ships that deployed remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) in the search – including the mothership Polar Prince – also would have caused underwater noise, Schanck said.

Schanck doesn't think the noise would have come from the Titan debris, although it may come from the Titanic 'if there is loose metal moving around' – but surface vessels and ROVs deployed in the search were the most likely cause.

Stefan B. Williams, a professor of marine robotics at the University of Sydney, told Business Insider marine wildlife 'like whales' could even have caused the noise.

Minute by Minute: Titan Sub Disaster, produced by ITN Productions for Channel 5 airs on March 6 and 7 at 21.00.