The scientific head for the enterprise behind the Titan submarine which fatally collapsed last year while heading towards the wreck of the Titanic informed an inquiry on Thursday that the submarine had experienced a malfunction immediately preceding the fatal descent.
Steven Ross, while addressing a panel of the US coast guard, disclosed an issue with the platform the trial submarine encountered in June 2023, mere days prior to its collapse en route to the Titanic site.
Submarine passengers were tossed around due to this malfunction, taking an hour to be removed from the water. During this malfunction, OceanGate co-founder and submarine pilot, Stockton Rush, collided with a bulkhead, recounted Mr Ross.
Within moments of the diving to the Titanic, the Titan encountered a malfunction, claims the science director. The erosion of the Titan submarine after the implosion was presented at a public hearing.
Regarding the situation within the submersible, Mr Ross said, “One individual was suspended upside down whilst the other two were able to lodge themselves into the bow’s end cap”. He confessed his unawareness of whether the Titan’s hull was evaluated post-incident.
Tragically, British explorer Hamish Harding and father-son duo Shahzada and Suleman Dawood died along with Rush and Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
Dawood was an advisor to the prince’s Trust International – the King’s charity – with a primary focus on its Pakistani operations. Dawood, a London-based entrepreneur’s son was a fresher studying at Strathclyde University in Glasgow.
Earlier that Thursday, Renata Rojas, a mission specialist for the firm critiqued to the coast guard that the company employed skilled individuals who aspired to materialise dreams.
A committee investigating the incident had previously taken into account two days of evidence, leading to interrogation about the company’s practices prior to the fatal expedition.
In contrast to previous witnesses describing the company as plagued with problems and prioritising financial gain over science and safety, Ms Rojas painted a different picture. “Working with exceptional individuals, I was gaining a lot of knowledge. Some of them are dedicated workers who were merely attempting to realise dreams,” stated Ms Rojas.
Ms Rojas maintained that the company presented an adequate level of transparency prior to the Titanic expedition. There were occasions where her testimony induced emotional reactions, prompting a brief cessation by the coast guard committee to let herself regain composure.
She is part of the Explorers Club that griefs the loss of two members, Hamish Harding and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, who succumbed to the Titan implosion. The club referred to Mr Rush as a ‘companion to The Explorers Club’ post-implosion.
“On Thursday, Ms Rojas admitted knowledge of potential risks but denied ever feeling endangered by the operation,” she affirmed.
This month, the coast guard initiated a public hearing as a component of a top-tier inquiry into the implosion’s roots. The hearing launched on September 16th, with testimonies shedding light on existing issues the company confronted prior to the disastrous dive in 2023.
Film footage from the submarine wreckage’s underwater environment was also made public by the investigators. The video showed glimpses of the submarine’s tailcone and miscellaneous debris scattered across the sea bed.
During the onset, coast guard officers emphasised that the submarine hadn’t passed an independent review—an industry norm. Additionally, the Titan’s unconventional design sparked attention in the marine exploration community.
OceanGate, based in the American state of Washington, froze its proceedings in the aftermath of the implosion. The company is momentarily without a full-time workforce but is legally represented at the hearing.
The final communication relayed from Titan’s crew was about their submarine’s depth and load as it descended, following which, contact was lost during the final dive on June 18th, 2023. The support vessel, Polar Prince, continued to send out regular inquiries as to whether the ship was still visible on Titan’s onboard display.
Titan’s crew then responded to the Polar Prince with “all good here” just before the implosion, as interpreted from a visual presentation earlier in the hearing.
After the submersible was declared missing, emergency resources involving ships, aircraft, and other equipment were hurriedly dispatched to a location roughly 700km to the south of St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. Four days post, coast guard officials announced the discovery of the Titan wreckage roughly 300m away from the Titanic bow’s location, on the sea bed.
OceanGate has confirmed its full cooperation with the ongoing investigations run by the US coast guard and NTSB. They revealed that Titan, their submersible, has been undertaking trips to the site of the Titanic wreck from as far back as 2021, according to the Associated Press.