OceanGate ex-employee reveals 'first red flag' about safety of submersible as image of doomed Titan sub revealed
16 September 2024, 21:03 | Updated: 16 September 2024, 21:04
A former employee of OceanGate has revealed the "first red flags" she saw regarding the safety of the doomed Titan sub.
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The US Coast Guard presented an animated re-creation of the journey of the Titan on Monday, the first day of what is expected to be a two-week hearing into the causes of the implosion in June 2023.
Speaking at the hearing, Bonnie Carl, who left OceanGate in 2018, said she spotted "red flags" with the submersible's safety before the fateful accident.
"It became abundantly clear to me OceanGate was not a place I wanted to work if that was their attitude to safety," she said, revealing engineering director Tony Nissen would not let her see certain safety documents.
"I didn't want to work for that company."
She added she had "full trust" in David Lochridge, a former OceanGate engineer and sub pilot who claims he was fired for raising concerns about safety.
This comes after the hearing heard the haunting last words sent from the Titan sub before it was crushed.
The last words from the crew of an experimental submersible headed for the wreck of the Titanic before it imploded were “all good.”
Crew aboard the Titan were communicating with support staff aboard the Polar Prince via text messages, according to the presentation.
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The crew lost contact after an exchange of repeated inquiries from the Polar Prince about the submersible’s depth and weight as it descended.
The Polar Prince then sent repeated messages asking if the Titan could still see the ship on its onboard display. One of Titan’s final responses, which became spotty as it descended, was “all good here”.
Coast guard officials also gave an overview of the history of the Titan, during which they stated that the hull of the craft was never subject to third-party checks. Officials also said the sub was left exposed to weather and elements while in storage for seven months in 2022 and 2023.
Ten former OceanGate employees will give testimony in the hearing in North Charleston, South Carolina, which is probing whether any criminal activity led to the tragedy.
The US Coast Guard said the two-week long hearing in Charleston County, South Carolina, will attempt to “uncover facts” while also “developing recommendations to prevent similar tragedies in the future.”
The Titan sub was attempting to dive 2.4 miles to reach the Titanic shipwreck which lies 380 miles from St John’s in Newfoundland, Canada, when it lost contact on June 18 2023.
After four days, debris of the submersible was found close to the wreck.
A “catastrophic implosion” had occurred, killing all five crew members. These were British explorer Hamish Harding, British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, OceanGate’s CEO Stockton Rush and French deep-sea explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet (known as “Mr Titanic”).
The ongoing Marine Board of Investigation is the highest level of marine casualty investigation conducted by the coast guard. When the hearing concludes, recommendations will be submitted to the coast guard’s commandant.
“There are no words to ease the loss endured by the families impacted by this tragic incident,” said Jason Neubauer of the Coast Guard Office of Investigations, who led the hearing.
“But we hope that this hearing will help shed light on the cause of the tragedy and prevent anything like this from happening again.”
