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The US Coast Guard is holding a long-awaited hearing on the deadly Titanic submersible disaster on Monday as it continues its investigation into the implosion of the vessel.
The experimental Titan submersible imploded as it was heading down to the ruins of the Titanic, killing all five people on board in June 2023.
Ten former OceanGate employees will give testimony in the hearing in North Charleston, South Carolina.
The hearing will look into whether any criminal activity led to the tragedy tragedy.
A review of the Titan's history has already emerged a pattern of safety failures including multiple drop weight and batteries issues.
Witnesses that will speak at hearing
- Witnesses scheduled to testify on Monday include OceanGate’s former engineering director, Tony Nissen; the company’s former finance director, Bonnie Carl; and former contractor Tym Catterson.
- OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein; former operations director, David Lochridge; and former scientific director, Steven Ross, according to a list compiled by the Coast Guard.
- Some key OceanGate representatives are not scheduled to testify. They include Rush’s widow, Wendy Rush, who was the company’s communications director.
Titan was left uncovered for months
- Following the 2022 expedition, the Titan was reportedly left uncovered in a parking lot for months
- The average temperature in the parking lot was over 100 degrees, the hearing heard
Harrowing final exchange with the Titan
- The hearing saw an animation of the Titan's last dive, including the text exchange between the submersible and the Polar Prince, its support ship
- The Polar Prince repeatedly sent the same message to the Titan, without receiving a response
Who died in the Titan tragedy?
- On Monday the hearing held a moment of silence for those who died in the implosion of the experimental submersible, including OceanGate founder Stockton Rush and clients Shahzada and Suleman Dawood
History of issues with the Titan
- The Titan had a documented history of issues since 2017
- It was tested at 1.09x the operating pressure, but the industry standard is 1.25x
- In the 2021 expedition, there were 70 equipment issues that required correcting
- In the 2022 expedition, there were 48 issues including batteries that died, the platform was damaged during recovery, and the drop weights malfunctioned
Hearing kicks off in South Carolina
- The Coast Guard has started a public hearing about the deadly Titanic submersible disaster in June 2023
- Coast Guard officials said in a statement that the purpose of the hearing will be to 'consider evidence related to the loss of the Titan submersible.'
English (US)