Titan sub hearings live: Co-founder set to detail OceanGate inner workings as he testifies before Coast Guard
Guillermo Sohnlein co-founded Titan owner OceanGate with Stockton Rush in 2009 and has previously defended his former business partner
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The co-founder of OceanGate is currently testifying before the US Coast Guard. He’s expected to offer insight into the inner workings of the company.
Guillermo Sohnlein founded Titan owner OceanGate with CEO Stockton Rush in 2009, who was among the five people who died when the submersible imploded in June 2023.
Sohnlein left the company in 2013 but after the submersible’s implosion, he has defended his former business partner. Another witness expected to testify today includes former OceanGate engineering director Phil Brooks.
Last week, Patrick Lahey, the co-founder of Triton Submarines, OceanGate’s rival, told the hearing he informed Rush about concerns he had with the Titan’s prior glass dome design when he saw the submersible in 2019, and stressed the importance of certifying the vessel.
Rush called classification “an impediment to innovation,” Lahey told US Coast Guard panelists. Classification is not a requirement for operating a deep sea vessel, but Lahey said he’d never sell one without classification.
Other witnesses raised concerns about the submersible’s design, including Antonella Wilby, a former OceanGate operations and engineering tech contractor.
Patrick Lahey, co-founder and CEO of Triton Submarines, is being sworn in
Lahey and entrepreneur Larry Connor began planning their own deep sea expedition about a year after the Titan tragedy.
Dyer released as witness
The university engineer has been released as a witness from the hearing. The panel is currently on a lunch break and will return at 1pm ET with testimony from Patrick Lahey, the CEO of Triton Submarines.
Dyer says OceanGate’s designs were not complete
The “carbon fiber hull design was not complete,” Dyer says, explaining failures that happened while testing the Titan around 2017.
“They had not figured out what had happened on those failures from my perspective, and I had not seen an effort to modify or change the design.”
Dave Dyer, an engineer from the University of Washington, is currently testifying
Dyer was sworn in moments ago.
Hearing scheduled to resume soon
Proceedings on day four of the Titan submersible tragedy are scheduled to resume momentarily.
Hagen released as witness. Dave Dyer, an engineer from the University of Washington scheduled to speak next
Fred Hagen, the former mission specialist has been released as a witness during the hearing.
The next person due to speak is Dave Dyer, an engineer from the University of Washington. The university partnered with OceanGate to produce the Titan submersible.
Former mission specialist Hagen criticized the government for not conducting swift recovery operation
Fred Hagen says governments should have used the Titan tragedy as an opportunity to test machines capable of rescuing individuals at the depths of the ocean.
“We should have pursued every possible avenue until we knew definitively that my friends were dead,” he said. Officials launched a sprawling rescue-and-recovery operation that included several countries, including the US, Canada, France, Germany and Britain.
If something went wrong on Titan dive, Hagen says ‘we were all going to die’
When asked about what he knew about rescue operations, Hagen explained that there were limited resources on earth that could be utilized to save people on board the Titan sub.
If something went wrong, Paul-Henri Nargeolet told him “we were all going to die.”
“That was the paradigm you had to be comfortable with,” he said.
Renata Rojas, former mission specialist, said 'Neil Armstrong didn’t ask somebody, ‘Is this vessel classed?’
Speaking during her emotional testimony on Thursday, a former mission specialist for OceanGate spoke about some of the dangers associated with the voyage down to the Titanic wreck.
Titan, OceanGate’s submersible, was experimental in nature and therefore not classified.
“It was similar to the Apollo program,” she said. “They tested by doing... Neil Armstrong didn’t ask somebody, ‘Is this vessel classed?’ before he went to space. He just got in and went.”
NTSB begins questioning Hagen
A representative from the National Transportation Safety Board is now examining Hagen about his background and experience with OceanGate.
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