Titan sub hearing live: 10 ex-OceanGate employees to testify as Coast Guard ‘uncover facts’ about implosion

Several former OceanGate staff members and suppliers allegedly said that they’d invoke the Fifth Amendment if compelled to give testimony in the US Coast Guard’s hearing, anonymized sources close to the investigation told WIRED.

Ten former OceanGate staff have been subpoenaed and are set to testify in the Coast Guard’s Titan Marine Board of Investigation Hearing, spanning two-weeks in Charleston County, South Carolina.

According to the outlet, the US Coast Guard allegedly approached other “contemporary OceanGate staff and executives, and third-party suppliers, but was told that if compelled to appear they would assert their Fifth Amendment rights”.

It would mean the alleged those individuals would refuse to answer questions that might provide incriminating information about oneself in accordance with the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution – the so-called right to re silent.

An individual can only invoke the Fifth Amendment in response to compelled speech, such as in this instance through subpoena.

The Coast Guard’s Titan Marine Board of Investigation Hearing is set to begin today into the Titan submersible’s disastrous deep-sea voyage which saw the deaths of all five people onboard last June.

Opening remarks will be made at approximately 8.30am ET in Charleston County, South Carolina followed by a 30-minute overview and animation of the incident before evidence is given from three witnesses throughout the day.

Former OceanGate Engineering Director Tony Nissen, former OceanGate Human Resources/Finance Director Bonnie Carl and former OceanGate Contractor Tym Catterson are set to testify today, according to the Coast Guard.

A break down of the day’s events will take place at approximately 5.15pm to wrap up proceedings. The hearing will continue at about 8.30am on Tuesday.

Five crew members began their 4,000m descent to the Titanic shipwreck precisely 456 days ago.

But about 105 minutes into the trip on June 18, 2023, the Titan submersible stopped communicating with its mothership. Four days later, fragments of the vessel were found near the bow of sunken Titanic following a seeming “catastrophic implosion”.

In the weeks after the disaster, Bevan Hurley and Martha McHardy explained what happened the day the Titan sub disappeared and the days of turmoil that followed. 

Ten former OceanGate employees will be among the 24 witnesses set to give testimony during the US Coast Guard’s two-week long hearing, according to the US Coast Guard.

Former Engineering Director Tony Nissen, former Human Resources and Finance Director Bonnie Carl, former Contractor Tym Catterson, former Operations Director David Lochridge, Mission Specialist Renata Rojas, former Scientific Director Steven Ross, Mission Specialist Fred Hagen, former Co-Founder Guillermo Sohnlein, former Engineering Director Phil Brooks, former Director of Administration Amber Bay will testify in Charleston County, South Carolina.

The chairman of the Titan Marine Board of Investigation revealed that the purpose of the Coast Guard’s public hearing into the Titan submarine disaster is to “find facts” and prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future.

Jason Neubauer, the deputy chief of the Coast Guard’s Office of Investigations and Analysis, held a press conference on Sunday ahead of the two-week hearing which commences at 8.30am ET on Monday.

“Over the past 15 months, our team has worked continuously, in close coordination with multiple federal agencies, international partners and industry experts to uncover the facts surrounding this incident,” he said.

Neubauer expressed that the proceedings are not merely “formality” but are crucial in enhancing understanding about how the tragic incident on board the Titan submarine occurred last June, killing all five crew members on board.

He continued: “The purpose of this administrative hearing is to uncover the facts surrounding the incident. We are charged also to detect misconduct or negligence by credentialed mariners, and if there’s any detection of a criminal act, we would make a recommendation to the Department of Justice. But the focus of the hearing is to find the facts and make recommendations to make sure it does not happen again.

“But more importantly, I think we can also go globally, to the International Maritime Organization that oversees the operations on the high seas and in other countries.

“So, I think that’s another possible outcome of this hearing.”

US Coast Guard officials investigating the implosion of an experimental watercraft en route to the wreck of the Titanic were scheduled Monday to hear from former employees of the company that owned the Titan submersible.

The aim of the two-week hearing in Charleston County, South Carolina, is to “uncover the facts surrounding the incident and develop recommendations to prevent similar tragedies in the future,” the Coast Guard said in a statement earlier this month.

The ongoing Marine Board of Investigation is the highest level of marine casualty investigation conducted by the Coast Guard.

Patrick Whittle has the full story.