WYOMING COUNTY, Pa. — Jeff Owens of Wyoming County has never seen the Titanic, but he knows what the inside of a submarine looks and feels like.
"Hours and Hours of boredom interrupted by five seconds of terror," said Owens.
Moving to northeastern Pennsylvania in the 80's, Owens served in the U.S. Navy for 4 years, first on a warship then the USS Sabalo from 1967 to 1969.
Having this experience, he can only imagine what the 5 members of the OceanGate disaster went through.
"Well I feared the worst right from the beginning," said Owens. "I thought that there was a casualty when they couldn't communicate any longer and that's why you never heard from them again."
Putting himself in the places of the five victims, Owens says panic must have filled the minivan-sized submarine once problems arose.
"I think that the sub failed and they flooded and they had no chance really and in a few seconds they were doomed."
Thursday afternoon, hours after the Titan's emergency air would've been used up, the U.S. Navy announced crews had discovered debris along the ocean floor nearby the Titanic's remains.
While it is not clear at this time whether the pieces found are from OceanGate's missing vessel, Owens says it is surprising they found anything at all.
"It's remote and it takes a long time for people to get there even though there's an international group to organize submarine rescues," says Owens. "Getting there in time is the problem."
As for the noises heard over the several-day search, Owens says it could have been anything.
"I was a sonar watch stander and they are called Biologics," said Owens referring to the equipment used in the search. "There's many many sounds made by the animals and whales and whatever and sometimes they can sound mechanical maybe they thought they heard somebody banging on hull or something, but I doubt it."