A report from the United States Coast Guard exposes serious flaws in the Ocean Gate submersible Titan. It speaks of an experimental design and ignored alerts that ended up in a tragedy. Tragedy is anticipated by a former employee, who gave an interview to the BBC.
It is in a report of the American Coast Guard, known this Tuesday, that which imploded in June 2023, should never have operated. The same was denounced by David Lochridge, former Oceangate director of operations.
In an interview with This Wednesday confesses that when the submersible Titan disappeared in 2023, he still had hope that the five occupants would be found alive.
“But I knew that if they continued to operate the way they were doing and with that poor equipment, there would be an incident,” he said.
In the interview, released in recent hours, the former Oceangate Director of Maritime Operations confirms the flaws pointed out in the US Coast Guard report. Fired in 2018, after raising questions to Titan’s safety, David Lochridge reveals that much could have been done differently.
“From design, construction, operations… they sold a lie to people,” he told the BBC.
Lochridge was one of the first to denounce structural failures in the carbon fiber hull and to question the quality of the materials used. According to BBC, Titan had visible cracks, cool pieces and a certified front window for the ocean background pressures.
“I only found resistance,” said the former employee.
Out of the company, Lochridge filed a formal complaint to OSHA, the US Occupational Safety Agency.
“I provided all the documentation. I was talking to them in a few weeks. Osha did nothing.”
Later, the former employee and his wife were prosecuted by Oceangate, who demanded the couple a $ 10,000 compensation. Exhausted, they eventually signed a confidentiality agreement.
“We gave everything we had. We got completely sold out… They crushed us,” he said.
According to Reuters, the Coast Guard report confirms that there was a serious failure of institutional response: Osha’s email with the complaint did not reach the destination and the agency admitted failures. “The system didn’t work,” said the head of the Titan implosion commission.
In the now known report, the authorities reveal that Oceangate detected anomalies in the hull detected in 2022 after an expedition to Titanic. Even so, he advanced with new expeditions. The document also says that the submersible was not stored in winter, before the 2023 trip, remaining outdoors.
It was during this expedition that Titan lost contact with the support ship. Four days later, the wreckage were found in the sea. On board followed Oceangate CEO, Stockton Rush, the French Oceanographer, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Hamish Harding, owner of Action Aviation, Shahzada Dawood, Pakistani-British entrepreneur and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood.
