The company the operated the Titan submersible was a disaster waiting to happen, according to a Coast Guard report on the 2023 implosion that killed five people.
“This marine casualty and the loss of five lives was preventable,” said Jason Neubauer, Titan Marine Board of Investigation chair, according to a Coast Guard news release. “The two-year investigation has identified multiple contributing factors that led to this tragedy.”
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush died in the June 2023 wreck, which was designed to be a trip to view the wreckage of the Titanic, as did passengers Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood; Hamish Harding; and Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
The Coast Guard report issued Monday.stressed the need for safety regulations for submersibles and ruled that “OceanGate’s failure to follow established engineering protocols for safety, testing, and maintenance of their submersible, was the primary causal factor.”
The Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation has released ROV footage of the Titan submersible’s tail cone. The video provided conclusive evidence of the catastrophic loss of the submersible Titan and the death of all five members aboard.pic.twitter.com/0QsTHE8Wmd
— Mike Schuler (@MikeSchuler) September 17, 2024
Long before the disaster, “OceanGate leveraged intimidation tactics, allowances for scientific operations, and the company’s favorable reputation to evade regulatory scrutiny,” the report said.
“The lack of both third-party oversight and experienced OceanGate employees on staff during their 2023 TITAN operations allowed OceanGate’s Chief Executive Officer to completely ignore vital inspections, data analyses, and preventative maintenance procedures, culminating in a catastrophic event,” the report said.
The report noted that the Titan “was not registered, certified, inspected, or classed by any international flag administration or recognized organization.”
Should new submersible safety regulations be implemented?
The report summarized the final minute of the Titan’s existence through its communications with the Polan Prince, its support ship.
“At 10:47:02 a.m., at a depth of 3,341 meters, the TITAN messaged the POLAR PRINCE, reporting ‘dropped two wts’ Six seconds later, at 10:47:08 a.m., at a depth of 3,346.28 meters, the TITAN sent an automated transmission that recorded its final location at 41° 44.06’ North; 49° 56.54’West,” the report said.
“At approximately 10:47:09 a.m., the TITAN suffered a catastrophic implosion, resulting in the immediate loss of all lives on board. Two seconds later the TITAN Communications and Tracking Team on the POLAR PRINCE heard a ‘bang’ emanating from the ocean’s surface, which the investigation later correlated to the TITAN’s implosion. After that, all communications and tracking with the TITAN were lost,” the report said.
The cause of the disaster, the report said, “was the loss of structural integrity of the TITAN’s carbon fiber hull. This loss of structural integrity caused the sudden catastrophic implosion of the hull. Following the implosion, the five individuals aboard were exposed to approximately 4,930 pounds per square inch of water pressure, resulting in the instantaneous death of all five occupants.”
The report is an indictment of the company, noting that “OceanGate’s design and testing processes for TITAN did not adequately address many of the fundamental engineering principles that would be crucial for constructing a hull to the precision necessary for the intended operations in an inherently hazardous environment.”
The report also noted that OceanGate did not analyze the Titan’s hull for its integrity and disregarded incidents indicating the hull was compromised.
Furhter, it said, “OceanGate’s safety culture and operational practices were critically flawed and at the core of these failures were glaring disparities between their written safety protocols and their actual practices.”
The report noted that in 2018, a whistleblower complained about issues that would later lead to disaster, but no Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation was conducted.
The report noted that the Titan’s carbon fiber hull had been growing weaker, but OceanGate never inspected it, meaning that its “carbon fiber pressure hull suffered a full material collapse due to buckling on its final dive.”
In an anecdote that was part of the report, Rush was quoted as saying, after days of frustrations waiting for good weather, “I’m going to get a dive in, even if it kills me.”
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