Five people died on June 18, 2023, on a Titan submersible en route to view the wreckage of the Titanic, triggering a wave of scrutiny of the safety practices of OceanGate, the company that operated the voyage, and concerns over the private seabed exploration industry. universal. A U.S. Coast Guard hearing in South Carolina on Monday revealed new details about the Titan submarine implosion, including the final text sent by the sub’s crew to surface operators in the Atlantic Ocean.
The first person to testify on Monday was OceanGate’s former engineering director Tony Nissen, who said he was under intense pressure to make the submarine work properly, CBS News reported. But he stressed that he didn’t think the testing was rushed. However, Nissen noted that this is a “difficult question to answer” because “if you have unlimited time and an unlimited budget, you can do unlimited testing,” according to the Associated Press.
Nissen also confirmed that the Titan submarine was struck by lightning during a test in the Bahamas in 2018, which may have damaged the hull. As the New York Times noted, the company encountered 70 equipment issues in 2021 and 48 in 2022, according to Monday’s testimony. Nissen said he was fired in 2019 because he would not approve that year’s expedition due to concerns about the submarine’s integrity.
Bonnie Carl, a former financial director at OceanGate, testified that she had “significant concerns” about the company’s equipment. Carr said she left the company after it faced criticism for lax safety standards, including from film director James Cameron, who built and used the submersible himself. OceanGate founder Stockton Rush was one of five people killed in last year’s implosion, and most public criticism has been directed at him.
Investigators say Titan was stored outdoors in harsh, cold conditions the winter before the implosion, which may have contributed to the tragedy. The Coast Guard is investigating under the Maritime Board of Investigation, and hearings starting Monday are expected to last about two weeks, according to the Associated Press.
“No words can lessen the loss suffered by the families affected by this tragic event,” Jason Neubauer of the Coast Guard’s Office of Investigations said during the hearing, CBS News reported. “But we hope this “This hearing will help identify the cause of the tragedy and prevent something like this from happening again.”
