I was trapped in Titanic wreckage – it’s been hell re-living feeling of being buried alive like missing sub crew
A MAN who became trapped in Titanic wreckage broke down in tears as he admitted feeling guilt amid fears the missing sub crew are dead.
In a harrowing interview on ITV’s This Morning, Dr Michael Guillen told of surviving a near-death experience after the vessel was suddenly caught in a strong underwater current that hurled it towards the Titanic’s 21-ton propellers.
He had been the first TV reporter to visit the Titanic wreckage back in 2000 after travelling two and a half miles under the Atlantic Ocean off Newfoundland in a submersible called the Mir 1.
Twenty three years on, Dr Guillen has described the pain he feels knowing what the missing crew feared dead are going through as their oxygen supply has likely run out.
Dr Guillen became overwhelmed with emotion as he told presenters Holly Willoughby and Dermot O’Leary about facing the realisation you’re “buried alive in a tin can”.
“For the last 72 hours it’s been hell for me to be honest with you,” he said on the ITV programme.
“It’s almost like I feel I’m down there with them. I know what they’re going through, I can feel it.
“I was hoping they would experience that second chance at life like I did. I almost feel guilty talking to you this morning.”
Dr Guillen’s voice broke off, before adding through tears: “I feel guilty that I was given a second chance.
“It’s pretty remote that they’ll be given a second chance. It’s a terrible way to go.
“My only hope and prayer is that they experience the same sense of peace that I did when I was ready to let go of my life.
“That’s the only thing I cling to, but this has been hell. It’s almost like I’m down there with them.”
Rescue teams have been staging a last-ditch attempt to locate the vessel in a tense race against the clock after it lost communication on Sunday with just 96 hours of life support.
British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Sulaiman, 19, paid £200,000-a-head for the trip.
It was led by OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, 61 and veteran French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77.
Dr Guillen told This Morning how he felt in the hour he spent fearing he would die on the submarine.
“There are no ways out of here. You’re under two and half miles of water in the middle of nowhere. You can’t just call the tow service and be towed out.
“That was a hard pill to swallow. It hit me like a brick wall.
“I remember feeling the sadness about never seeing my wife again.
“At that point I knew this was the end of the road for me.
“Every minute that you’re down there and you’re literally buried alive in this tin can it stretches out in eternity. You lose any sense of time.”
Dr Guillen said he was “ready to cross over” when the captain managed to free the submarine from the Titanic’s propeller.
“I had been given a second chance at life,” he added.
“That’s a feeling I will never forget.”
OceanGate’s sub, Titan, vanished less than two hours into its descent 12,500ft down to the Titanic wreckage on Sunday.
Sounds of banging detected underwater on Wednesday had raised hopes of a last-gasp miracle as extra rescue ships rushed to join a final bid to find lost craft Titan in the Atlantic.
The US Coastguard warned the oxygen supply was due to run out at 12.08pm BST (7.08am ET) today – meaning it is probable the crew on board Titan are now without breathable air.