Titan sub hearing latest: OceanGate scientific director says sub malfunctioned days before fatal voyage
Coast Guard announces ‘newly added witness’ to Titan Submersible Marine Board of Investigation’s hearing as another OceanGate mission specialist gets set to testify
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OceanGate’s former scientific director said that the Titan submersible’s platform malfunctioned just days before its fatal voyage, leaving one crew member to hanging upside-down.
Dr Steven Ross testified that he, along with other passengers, were trapped in the sub during a mission that took place in June 2023, just days before the vessel’s “catastrophic implosion” that killed all five people on board.
“The rest of the passengers tumbled about. I ended up standing on the rear bulkhead. One passenger was hanging upside down,” he said.
Earlier in the hearing, Renata Rojas, OceanGate’s mission specialist, tearfully addressed the US Coast Guard’s Titan Marine Board of Investigations panel. She talked about her role in preparing missions, her own trips down to the Titanic wreckage, and lamented the loss of her friends that died during the doomed expedition to the Titanic shipwreck.
“What we’ve all gone through is still very raw. Nothing is ever going to bring our friends back,” she said.
The Coast Guard announced a “newly added witness” to Friday’s hearing with testimonies from OceanGate mission specialist Fred Hagen, engineer from the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Lab Dave Dyer and co-founder of Triton Submarines Patrick Lahey.
Day three of hearing begins with OceanGate as witness
Thursday’s hearing began with its daily opening at 8.30am ET.
Renta Rojas, OceanGate’s mission specialist, will begin her testimony at approximately 9am.
OceanGate mission specialist to testify this morning
A mission specialist for the company that owned the Titan submersible that imploded in 2023 is scheduled to testify before the US Coast Guard on Thursday.
Renata Rojas is the latest person to testify who is connected to Titan owner OceanGate after an investigatory panel has listened to two days of testimony that raised questions about the company’s operations before the doomed mission.
Find out more below.
Mission specialist for Titan sub owner to testify before Coast Guard
A mission specialist for the company that owned the Titan submersible that imploded is scheduled to testify before the U.S. Coast Guard
Remnants of Titan sub’s hull scattered on floor revealed in newly released footage
Two more OceanGate employees to testify as hearing returns this morning
Two more OceanGate employees are expected to testify as witnesses today, as the US Coast Guard’s public hearing returns after a break on Wednesday.
Renata Rojas, a mission specialist for the company that owned the Titan submersible, will be first up to speak in front of Titan Marine Board of Investigations panel at approximately 9.00am ET this morning. She will address the panel until about 12.30pm, with a 10 minute recess at 10.30am.
After lunch, Dr Dr Steven Ross, OceanGate’s former scientific director, will testify at approximately 1.30pm. The hearing is expected to conclude after a break down at 3.00pm before returning on Friday morning.
Hearings will resume on Thursday at 8.30am ET.
Our blog will be paused until then.
Newly-released footage of Titan sub wreckage surfaces
David Lochridge is released as witness
Hearings will resume on Thursday at 8.30am.
Our blog will be paused until then.
Lochridge testifies that OceanGate took safety shortcuts
“The way this company was going about this project, bypassing all the standardized rules and regulations that are set in place by people with experience...they bypassed it all,” Lochridge said.
It was inevitable something was going to happen. It was just a [question of] when,” he continued.
Witnesses discuss the ‘push’ to launch the vessel
Lochridge told the panel that there was a “push” to launch the Titan.
“They were very push push push to get this out the door as fast as possible so they could start making profit,” he said on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Lochridge said he “had no confidence whatsoever” with how the Titan was being built. “There was a big push to get this done and a lot of steps along the way were missed,” including safety concerns.
The day prior, Tony Nissen, the director of engineering, also remarked on the force felt to get the vessel to set sail.
When asked if there was “pressure” to start operations, Nissen told the panel: “100 percent.”
‘It screams like a mother before it implodes’: Rush told Lochridge, the witness recalled
When he submitted the inspection report to senior management, Lochridge said he received a message about a meeting in the board room.
“That meeting turned out to be a two-hour discussion about my termination and how my disagreements with the organization with regards to safety didn’t matter,” he told the panel.
“It doesn’t just implode. It screams like a mother before it implodes,” Rush said about carbon fiber, according to Lochridge.
The witness said the company exhibited a “total disregard for safety.”
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