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.”
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.
Hagen speaks on ‘loud bang’ during dive
During a dive in 2022, Hagen says he heard a ‘loud bang’ come from the vessel. After the incident, OceanGate team members discussed what may have happened to the Titan’s hull.
The crew was concerned the “hull had cracked,” he told the hearing’s panelists. “We determined the hull had jumped in the carriage.”
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