A two-week US Coast Guard hearing into last year's Titan submersible implosion, which killed five people, has concluded. The Marine Board of Investigation delved into a series of missteps leading up to the tragedy, concluding that OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush prioritized profits over safety and ignored warnings about the experimental vessel. Recommendations aimed at improving maritime safety standards are expected.
The findings of a two-week US Coast Guard hearing into last year's implosion that killed five people in the Titan submersible on a North Atlantic dive to the wreckage of Titanic will be analysed with an eye toward understanding what contributed to the tragedy and, in the words of one investigator, ensuring "that nobody has to endure a future similar occurrence".
Rush was killed in what authorities concluded was a "catastrophic implosion," which also claimed the lives of businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood; businessman Hamish Harding; and French diver and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet. Until that morning, a manned deep-ocean submersible had never imploded, according to industry experts.'Trying to get into the mind' of OceanGate's CEO
"There are no words to ease the loss endured by the families impacted by this devastating incident, but we hope that this hearing will help shed light on the cause of the tragedy," the company said.Neubauer said the testimony gave important insight into the potential motivation in Rush and his company.
"Stockton Rush could have done this dive by himself but it would not have had the notoriety of taking a famous Titanic explorer to the bottom, an English businessman and one of their sons … The whole thing he was trying to do was, to be the guy who made access to the deep sea easy. Karl Stanley, a submersible operator who runs a tourism company in Honduras, testified last Tuesday about his work with Rush on another OceanGate submersible with an earlier version of the Titan hull.
Donald Kramer, an engineer with the National Transportation Safety Board, testified that the carbon fibre hull had many imperfections, including wrinkles, pores and voids that potentially weakened the structure. Her testimony echoed that of Phil Brooks, OceanGate's former director of engineering, who testified on Monday that he believed the request illustrated economic challenges that resulted in sacrifices to safety.
"There was definitely checks and balances in place to make certain things were operating as safely as possible," she said., released during the hearing, shed light on the pressures and challenges the CEO and the company faced at the time. "Our apprehension is that the current 'experimental' approach adopted by OceanGate could result in negative outcomes that would have serious consequences for everyone in the industry," said the letter, written by Kohnen in March 2018.
Titan Submersible Implosion Safety Investigation Oceangate
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