John Jefferson
Video released by the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation shows the remains of the Titan submersible on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean after an implosion claimed the lives of all five on board.
Remotely operated vehicle footage shows the vessel’s tail cone resting on the ocean floor. The video was the conclusive evidence investigators needed to determine the catastrophic loss following the incident on June 18, 2023.
The Titan’s implosion happened less than two hours after its descent toward the wreck of the Titanic.
The submersible was owned by OceanGate. The company’s former operations director, David Lochridge, told investigators on Tuesday that the Titan tragedy could have been prevented if a federal safety agency had investigated a complaint he filed with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
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“As a seafarer, I feel deeply disappointed by the system that is meant to protect not only seafarers but the general public as well,” he said.
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Lochridge refused to greenlight manned tests of the submersible over safety concerns.
Lochridge said during testimony that eight months after he filed an OSHA complaint, a caseworker told him the agency had not begun investigating it yet, and there were 11 cases ahead of his. By then, OceanGate was suing Lochridge, and he had filed a countersuit.
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About 10 months after he filed the complaint, he decided to walk away. The case was closed and both lawsuits were dropped, according to The Associated Press.
OceanGate head Stockton Rush was among the five people who died in the implosion. The Titan had been on several dives to the Titanic going back to 2021, the AP reported.
U.S. Coast Guard hearings on the Titan submersible began Monday and will resume Thursday in Charleston, South Carolina.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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