OCEANGATE DIRECTOR ADMITTED THE TITAN SUB MALFUNCTIONED SHORTLY BEFORE THE TITANIC DIVE
Shortly before it made its fatal dive, the Titan submersible malfunctioned, according to the scientific director of OceanGate. According to Steven Ross, Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate, crashed into the bulkhead during the malfunction that happened in June 2023, causing the passengers inside the sub to begin to "tumble about." "One passenger was hanging upside down," he said, addressing a panel of the US Coast Guard. The two others succeeded in squeezing themselves between the bow end cap." In addition, he mentioned that there was a platform problem earlier, and it took an hour to remove everyone from the water. Ross informed the panel that he was unsure if the Titan sub's hull had been evaluated after the incident. The submarine implosion that killed OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, British explorer Hamish Harding, British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, and experienced French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet last year is currently being investigated by panels and inquiries. Recent video footage has emerged, revealing the location of some of the Titan's wreckage. While some sections of the submersible have been destroyed, other sections seem to have retained most of their structural integrity. The US Coast Guard stated that the sub had most likely experienced a "catastrophic implosion" after it vanished. Not long before the surface ship Polar Prince lost contact with the Titan, its last words were "all good." The inquiries have been informed about the risks that the Titan sub's occupants faced by former employees of OceanGate.Former company director of marine operations David Lochridge attempted to warn of the vessel's dangerous design, but he was dismissed. Then, after discovering several issues with the Titan, he sent an email expressing his concern that Rush 'kills himself and others in the quest to boost his ego'. According to Lochridge, Stockton Rush also wanted users to be able to operate the Titan with a PlayStation controller attached in less than an hour. Tony Nissen, the former engineering director of OceanGate, stated that he was not surprised by the Titan's "failure where it did" and recalled telling Rush that he was "not getting in it" at one point. A portion of the inquiry into the Titan's demise and the five fatalities that followed includes the US Coast Guard hearing. Everything we currently know about the Titan sub inquiry.
On Monday, September 16, a public hearing regarding the five fatalities on board OceanGate's tragic Titan submersible got underway. It's anticipated to go on for two weeks. Titan was 'unregistered, non-certificated and unclassed'. The submersible was constructed in 2020 and was described as "unregistered, non-certificated, and unclassified" on the first day of the hearing. It also lacked an identifying number. Officials stated that the submersible's hull was left outside during its seven-month storage period in 2022 and 2023 and that it was never the subject of independent inspections. Titanic pieces were "bonded together using an adhesive." When OceanGate announced in 2017 that it would be visiting the Titanic, staff members "used an adhesive" to fuse the submersible's titanium rings and carbon fibre hull. Titan discovered "partially sunk" one month before the disaster. In the ocean, the Titan was discovered to be "partially sunk" during its 2023 expedition. Titan was cut off from the support ship. Text messages were being exchanged between the Titan's crew and the Polar Prince's support workers. The Titan crew spoke with Polar Prince several times before losing contact as it descended. One of the last texts from the submersible was revealed. One of Titan’s final responses was revealed to be: "All good here." Whistleblower says implosion was 'inevitable'. David Lochridge, a former employee of OceanGate, testified on Tuesday, September 17, 2018, describing how he had forewarned about possible safety issues with the ship as early as 2018, warnings he claims were disregarded. When questioned about his level of confidence in the way Titan was being built, Lochridge—who was fired from the company in 2018—told investigators that something would eventually go wrong and replied, "No confidence whatsoever, and I was very vocal about that, and still am." He also criticised the 'arrogance' within the company, along with the 'control freak' tendencies of Stockton Rush.