Titan sub hearings live: OceanGate co-founder had said ‘no-one is dying under my watch’ before tragic submersible implosion
Roy Thomas, a senior principal engineer with the American Bureau of Shipping, is currently speaking
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OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein was the first to testify before the US Coast Guard on Monday. He offered insight into the business but told investigators he’s not sure if the public will ever know what led to the tragedy.
Sohnlein and Stockton Rush founded the company in 2009, who was among the five people who died when the submersible imploded in June 2023.
The former CEO left the company in 2013 but after the submersible’s implosion, he has defended his former business partner. He told investigators he wants the world to honor his friends by continuing deep-sea exploration.
Roy Thomas, a senior principal engineer with the American Bureau of Shipping, is currently speaking. Former OceanGate engineering director Phil Brooks will speak later today.
Last week, several speakers said they raised concerns to Rush about the Titan vessel’s design and lack of classification. Rush called classification “an impediment to innovation” and once told an employee getting inside the submersible is “one of the safest things I will ever do.”
He added: “No-one is dying under my watch -period.”
What to expect as we enter day four of the Coast Guard’s hearing
Another mission specialist who worked with the company that owned the Titan submersible that imploded last year while on its way to the Titanic wreckage is scheduled to testify before a U.S. Coast Guard investigatory panel Friday.
Mission specialist Fred Hagen is scheduled to be the first to testify Friday. Other witnesses have characterized mission specialists as people who paid a fee to play a role in OceanGate’s underwater exploration.
Find out more below.
Titan submersible testimony to enter fourth day after panel hears of malfunction and discord
Another mission specialist who worked with the company that owned the Titan submersible that imploded last year while on its way to the Titanic wreckage is scheduled to testify before a U.S. Coast Guard investigatory panel Friday
Coast Guard adds ‘new witness’ to schedule ahead of Friday’s hearing
MBI created an animated model of the Titan’s doomed voyage
Final communications between the Titan crew and its support vessel, revealed
“All good here” were some of the final words that the doomed Titan submersible crew communicated before the submersible imploded on its mission to the Titanic wreckage site in June 2023.
The message, revealed as part of the Coast Guard’s Monday hearing into the circumstances of the failed mission, was sent to support vessel Polar Prince on June 18, 2023, shortly before the submersible imploded, killing all five of its crew members. It was an incident that captivated both sides of the Atlantic as crews made a mad dash to save the crew after the sub lost contact with the surface - with the world unaware that the lives had been lost.
The Coast Guard played an animated re-enactment of the Titan’s voyage that captured the submersible’s final, spotty exchange with the Polar Prince, during the Monday hearing that shed new light on the sub’s final mission.
Around 10am on June 18, Polar Prince asked the Titan crew whether they were able to see the support vessel on the submersible’s display. The support vessel asked the crew the same question seven times over the course of seven minutes. The Titan crew then sent “k,” meaning it was asking for a communications check.
Read the full story...
Final messages revealed from the Titan sub before tragic implosion
The anticipated two-week-long hearings kicked off with testimony from a former OceanGate engineer, who said he was fired after warning about the ship’s carbon fiber hull years before its catastrophic voyage
WATCH: Titan crew's final three-word text revealed in haunting animation of submersible's journey
The US Coast Guard has released exhibits relating to the hearing
WATCH: What happened to the Titan tourist submersible?
Proceedings will resume again at 8.30am on Monday
Antonella Wilby has been released as a witness. Friday’s hearing is now over and proceedings will resume next week.
Wilby says she wanted to go to the board of directors about safety concerns but was warned about being sued
After the “loud bang” incident, Wilby says she wanted to approach the board of directors with concerns she had about OceanGate’s operations, but a colleague warned her that her NDA did not cover the board and she could be sued for speaking out.
She decided against raising her concerns.
Hearing taking a short break
Proceedings will resume momentarily
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