GettyAn expert’s shocking claim has cast doubts over what really caused the sinking of the RMS Titanic.
Journalist Senan Molony, has dedicated 30 years to researching the disaster which claimed the lives of over 1,500 people in the North Atlantic, off the coast of Newfoundland, in April of 1912.
Famously dubbed the ‘unsinkable’ ship, Titanic’s maiden voyage saw some of the world’s wealthiest people, as well as hundreds of impoverished immigrants make the trip from Southampton to New York.
GettyBut, in the new documentary Titanic: The New Evidence, due to be aired on New Year’s Day, Mr Molony claims there is more to the ship’s sinking than generally believed.
The programme slams the popular theory that the ship’s collision with an iceberg was solely responsible for the disaster.
It instead puts forward the theory that a fire in one of Titanic’s coal bunkers was responsible for causing serious damage to the hull where the iceberg later hit.
Molony claims the heat of the fire – which he says had been burning in the lowest deck since they left Belfast – weakened the hull to the point that any relatively minor impact would’ve caused serious damage.
Speaking to The Times, he said:
The official Titanic inquiry branded it [the sinking] as an act of God.
This isn’t a simple story of colliding with an iceberg and sinking. It’s a perfect storm of extraordinary factors coming together: fire, ice and criminal negligence.
GettySounds like it could be pretty interesting if evidence of a cover-up has been discovered…
Titanic: The New Evidence is due to be aired on Channel 4 at 8pm on New Year’s Day.
