The Titan submersible had to abort a dive just days before the implosion that killed its five passengers as they explored the wreck of the Titanic, an ex-employee of the company that operated the vessel testified on Thursday. The testimony from former OceanGate scientific director Steven Ross came as the US Coast Guard began a two-week hearing on Monday into the 2023 catastrophe, which will feature evidence as to what went wrong and whether physical or design failure contributed to the accident, which garnered worldwide attention.

Ross told the hearing that the earlier dive had to be aborted due to a valve malfunction that left at least one passenger hanging upside down and took “considerable time” to correct.

He said that when the privately-owned and operated submersible surfaced during that dive, it tilted so its bow was pointing upwards at a 45-degree angle.

Ross, who was inside along with four other passengers, explained that “there’s nothing to hold on to inside this submersible.”

The pilot that day — OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who died in the implosion days later — “crashed into the rear bulkhead,” Ross said. 

“The rest of the passengers tumbled about. I ended up standing on the rear bulkhead,” he continued. 

“One passenger was hanging upside down, and the other two managed to wedge themselves into the bow end cap.”

He said no one was injured in the incident, but that inside the cramped and confined space “it was uncomfortable and unpleasant, and it took considerable time to correct the problem” — at least an hour, by his reckoning. 

Rush, he said, was “upset” by the incident.

Rush and four passengers descended in the submersible on June 18, 2023, to observe the wreck of the Titanic.

But contact was lost less than two hours after their departure. A vast rescue operation was launched in the hope that the passengers had simply lost power and were drifting helplessly in the ocean’s depths.

However, within days it became clear that the sub had been destroyed in a cataclysmic implosion. 

Victims are presumed to have died instantly in the disaster, which occurred under the crushing pressure of the North Atlantic at a depth of more than two miles (nearly four kilometers).

Apart from Rush, the four others on the Titan were British explorer Hamish Harding, French submarine expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani-British tycoon Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.

The family of Nargeolet has taken OceanGate to court, claiming $50 million for negligence. 

A debris field was found 1,600 feet (500 meters) from the bow of the Titanic, which sits 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank in 1912 during its maiden voyage from England to New York, with 2,224 passengers and crew on board. More than 1,500 people died.

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The scientific director for the company that owned the Titan submersible that imploded last year while on its way to the Titanic wreckage testified Thursday (September 19, 2024) that the sub had malfunctioned just before the fatal dive.

Appearing before a U.S. Coast Guard panel, Steven Ross told the board about a platform issue the experimental submersible experienced in June 2023, just days before it imploded on its way to the Titanic site. The malfunction caused passengers onboard the submersible to “tumble about,” and it took an hour to get them out of the water.

“The submersible pilot, OceanGate co-founder Stockton Rush, crashed into bulkheading during the malfunction,” Mr. Ross said. “No one was injured in the incident,” he added, though he described it as uncomfortable.

“One passenger was hanging upside down. The other two managed to wedge themselves into the bow end cap,” Mr. Ross said, adding that he did not know if a safety assessment of the Titan or an inspection of its hull was performed after the incident.

An investigatory panel has listened to three days of testimony that raised questions about the company’s operations before the doomed mission. Mr. Rush was among five people who died when the submersible imploded en route to the site of the Titanic wreck in June 2023.

Earlier Thursday (September 19, 2024), Renata Rojas, a mission specialist for the company, told the Coast Guard the firm was staffed by competent people who wanted to “make dreams come true.” Ms. Rojas’ testimony struck a different tone than some of the earlier witnesses, who described the company as troubled from the top down and focused more on profit than science or safety.

“I was learning a lot and working with amazing people,” Ms. Rojas said. “Some of those people are very hardworking individuals that were just trying to make dreams come true.”

Ms. Rojas also said she felt the company was sufficiently transparent during the run-up to the Titanic dive. Her testimony was emotional at times, with the Coast Guard panel proposing a brief break at one point so she could collect herself.

Ms. Rojas is a member of the Explorers Club, which lost members Hamish Harding and Paul-Henri Nargeolet in the Titan implosion. The club described Mr. Rush as “a friend of The Explorers Club” after the implosion.

“I knew what I was doing was very risky. I never at any point felt unsafe by the operation,” Ms. Rojas said in testimony Thursday (September 19, 2024).

Earlier this month, the Coast Guard opened a public hearing that is part of a high-level investigation into the cause of the implosion. The public hearing began September 16 and some of the testimony has focused on problems the company had prior to the fatal 2023 dive.

Investigators also released underwater footage of the submersible wreck. The footage shows the submersible’s tail cone and other debris on the ocean floor.

During the hearing, former OceanGate operations director David Lochridge said Tuesday (September 17, 2024) he frequently clashed with Mr. Rush and felt the company was committed only to making money.

“The whole idea behind the company was to make money,” Mr. Lochridge testified. “There was very little in the way of science.”

The hearing is expected to run through Friday (September 20, 2024) with more witnesses still to come and resume next week.

Mr. Lochridge and other witnesses have painted a picture of a company led by people who were impatient to get the unconventionally designed craft into the water. The deadly accident set off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration.

Coast Guard officials noted at the start of the hearing that the submersible had not been independently reviewed, as is standard practice. That and Titan’s unusual design subjected it to scrutiny in the undersea exploration community.

OceanGate, based in Washington state, suspended its operations after the implosion. The company has no full-time employees currently but has been represented by an attorney during the hearing.

During the submersible’s final dive on June 18, 2023, the crew lost contact after an exchange of texts about the Titan’s depth and weight as it descended. The support ship Polar Prince then sent repeated messages asking if the Titan could still see the ship on its onboard display.

One of the last messages from Titan’s crew to Polar Prince before the submersible imploded stated, “all good here,” according to a visual recreation presented earlier in the hearing.

When the submersible was reported missing, rescuers rushed ships, planes and other equipment to an area of about 700 km (435 miles) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Four days later, wreckage of the Titan was found on the ocean floor about 330 yards (300 meters) off the bow of the Titanic, Coast Guard officials said.

No one on board survived. Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman were the other two people killed in the implosion.

OceanGate said it has been fully cooperating with the Coast Guard and NTSB investigations since they began. The Titan had been making voyages to the Titanic wreckage site going back to 2021.

This undated image provided by OceanGate Expeditions in June 2021 shows the company’s Titan submersible. File
| Photo Credit: AP

A mission specialist for the company that owned the Titan submersible that imploded in 2023 is scheduled to testify before the U.S. Coast Guard on Thursday, September 19, 2024.

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. OceanGate co-founder Stockton Rush was among five people who died when the submersible imploded en route to the site of the Titanic wreck in June 2023.

Earlier this month, the Coast Guard opened a public hearing that is part of a high-level investigation into the cause of the implosion. The public hearing began on September 16 and some of the testimony has focused on the troubled nature of the company.

Also Read: Titan submersible | Deep sea tragedy

During the hearing, former OceanGate operations director David Lochridge said he frequently clashed with Rush and felt the company was committed only to making money.

“The whole idea behind the company was to make money,” Mr. Lochridge testified. “There was very little in the way of science.”

Also expected to testify on Thursday is former OceanGate scientific director Steven Ross. The hearing is expected to run through Friday with more witnesses still to come.

Mr. Lochridge and other witnesses have painted a picture of a company led by people who were impatient to get the unconventionally designed craft into the water. The deadly accident set off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration.

Coast Guard officials noted at the start of the hearing that the submersible had not been independently reviewed, as is standard practice. That and Titan’s unusual design subjected it to scrutiny in the undersea exploration community.

OceanGate, based in Washington State, suspended its operations after the implosion. The company has no full-time employees currently, but has been represented by an attorney during the hearing.

During the submersible’s final dive on June 18, 2023, the crew lost contact after an exchange of texts about the Titan’s depth and weight as it descended.

The support ship Polar Prince then sent repeated messages asking if the Titan could still see the ship on its onboard display.

One of the last messages from Titan’s crew to Polar Prince before the submersible imploded stated, “all good here,” according to a visual recreation presented earlier in the hearing.

When the submersible was reported missing, rescuers rushed ships, planes, and other equipment to an area about 435 miles (700 kilometres) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Four days later, the wreckage of the Titan was subsequently found on the ocean floor about 330 yards (300 metres) off the bow of the Titanic, Coast Guard officials said. No one on board survived.

OceanGate said it has been fully cooperating with the Coast Guard and NTSB investigations since they began. The Titan had been making voyages to the Titanic wreckage site going back to 2021. (AP) GRS GRS