Titan sub hearings live: Haunting new photos show mangled wreckage of OceanGate vessel after it imploded
After hearing evidence from Stockton Rush’s friend, Karl Stanley, yesterday, engineers will give testimony to the US Coast Guard today
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The hearings into the Titan submersible disaster resumed today after a friend of the OceanGate CEO who said the boss “knew it was going to end like this" testified yesterday.
Today’s hearing featured testimony from Dr. Don Kramer, National Transportation Safety Board engineer, who analyzed photos of the Titan sub wreckage for the investigative board. Additional specialists are slated to testify today.
Yesterday’s hearing featured Karl Stanley, the owner of a diving expedition company in Honduras and a close friend of Stockton Rush. He went on the doomed submersible with his friend in April 2019.
The Titan sub imploded last June, killing all five people on board, including Rush.
In a previous interview after the disaster, Stanley said: “[Rush] definitely knew it was going to end like this. He quite literally and figuratively went out with the biggest bang in human history that you could go out with.”
Yesterday Stanley testified hearing cracking noises on the submersible and that he could pinpoint where they were coming from. He told the board that Rush was “scared” during the 2019 dive.
“It was unnerving and then when it kept happening,” Stanley testified, referring to the noises.
“It’s also a clue to me about Stockton’s psychology...he was scared,” he added.
In photos: Key moments from the hearings so far
Monday hearing has concluded, proceedings to resume on Tuesday at 8.30am
Brooks has been released as a witness. Amber Bay, the former OceanGate director of administration, is the next person to testify at 8.30am Tuesday.
Brooks says OceanGate asked employees to go without payment
OceanGate ran out of money several times before the fatal implosion that killed five people, Brooks says, adding the company asked him to go without his paycheck on multiple occasions.
“They asked for volunteers,” he said. The “company was economically stressed.” Brooks says he’s unsure about whether the company successfully recruited volunteers.
The company promised employees they’d get us “caught up in paychecks after the 1st of the year.” he said.
Brooks says that no maintenance was done on Titan hull between 2022 and 2023
No testing or maintenance was done on the Titan submersible’s hull between 2022 and 2023. The vessel’s hull was made of carbon fiber which is susceptible to damage and failure, especially after repeated dives to extreme depths.
Who is Phil Brooks?
According to the former OceanGate employee’s LinkedIn, Brooks worked for the submersible company first as an embedded linux engineer in 2019. He was promoted to director of engineering in 2021.
He left OceanGate in March 2023. He’s now a senior hardware engineer in Seattle.
Hearing is back in session after break
Brooks is continuing his testimony, currently speaking about the process of collecting data for OceanGate.
Hearing taking a short break
The US Coast Guard’s hearing into the Titan tragedy is on a short break. It will reconvene momentarily.
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