New footage exhibits doomed Titan sub’s tail cone after it imploded
New deep sea-footage has been released showing the discovery of the Titan submersible’s tail cone after its fatal implosion last June.
The eerie underwater video, which was released by the US Coast Guard, shows the wreckage of the submersible on the seabed after it imploded less than two hours into its descent towards the wreck of the Titanic, killing all five people onboard.
The release came as a key employee – who deemed the vessel unsafe ahead of its last voyage – testified on Tuesday that the tragedy could have been prevented if a federal safety agency had investigated his complaint.
Earlier this week, the same on-going hearing revealed that one of the final messages from the crew aboard the Titan was ‘all good here’.
The new footage came as David Lochridge, OceanGate‘s former operations director, said he felt let down by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s decision not to follow through on the complaint.
‘I believe that if OSHA had attempted to investigate the seriousness of the concerns I raised on multiple occasions, this tragedy may have been prevented,’ he said while speaking before the commission that is seeking answers to the tragedy.
U.S. Coast Guard releases footage of the Titan submersible’s tail cone
Former OceanGate’s Director of Marine Operations, David Lochridge, center, stands during his testimony, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, for the Titan marine board formal hearing inside the Charleston County Council Chambers, in North Charleston, S.C.
Picture of the OceanGate Expeditions submersible vessel named Titan used to visit the wreckage site of the Titanic, which imploded last year while on its way to the wreckage of the Titanic
‘As a seafarer, I feel deeply disappointed by the system that is meant to protect not only seafarers but the general public as well.’
Lochridge said during testimony that eight months after he filed an OSHA complaint, a caseworker told him the agency had not begun investigating it yet and there were 11 cases ahead of his. By then, OceanGate was suing Lochridge and he had filed a countersuit.
About 10 months after he filed the complaint, he decided to walk away. The case was closed and both lawsuits were dropped.
‘I gave them nothing, they gave me nothing,’ he said of OceanGate.
OSHA officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Lochridge said he frequently clashed with the company’s co-founder and felt the company was committed only to making money.
Lochridge was one of the most anticipated witnesses to appear before a commission. His testimony echoed that of other former employees Monday, one of whom described OceanGate head Stockton Rush as volatile and difficult to work with.
‘The whole idea behind the company was to make money,’ Lochridge said. ‘There was very little in the way of science.’
Footage shows remains of the Titan submersible on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean
The accident set off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration
Rush was among the five people who died in the implosion. OceanGate owned the Titan and brought it on several dives to the Titanic going back to 2021.
Lochridge’s testimony began a day after other witnesses painted a picture of a troubled company that was impatient to get its unconventionally designed craft into the water. The accident set off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration.
Lochridge joined the company in the mid-2010s as a veteran engineer and submersible pilot and said he quickly came to feel he was being used to lend the company scientific credibility. He said he felt the company was selling him as part of the project ‘for people to come up and pay money,’ and that did not sit well with him.
‘I was, I felt, a show pony,’ he said. ‘I was made by the company to stand up there and do talks. It was difficult. I had to go up and do presentations. All of it.’
Lochridge referenced a 2018 report in which he raised safety issues about OceanGate operations. He said with all of the safety issues he saw ‘there was no way I was signing off on this.’
Asked whether he had confidence in the way the Titan was being built, he said: ‘No confidence whatsoever.’
Employee turnover was very high at the time, said Lochridge, and leadership dismissed his concerns because they were more focused on ‘bad engineering decisions’ and a desire to get to the Titanic as quickly as possible and start making money. He eventually was fired after raising the safety concerns, he said.
‘I didn’t want to lose my job. I wanted to do the Titanic. But to dive it safely. It was on my bucket list, too,’ he said.
David Lochridge said he had raised safety concerns back in 2018
Debris from the Titan submersible, recovered from the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic, is unloaded from the ship Horizon Arctic at the Canadian Coast Guard pier in St. John’s, Newfoundland, June 28, 2023
US Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick speaks to reporters about the search efforts for the Titan submersible on June 21 last year
OceanGate, based in Washington state, suspended its operations after the implosion.
Also, on Monday, OceanGate’s former engineering director Tony Nissen said he ‘100 per cent’ felt pressue to get the submarine into the water.
He also said he refused to pilot the Titan years ago because he didn’t trust the operations staff, and that he stopped the submersible from going to the Titanic in 2019.
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.
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.
When the submersible was reported overdue, rescuers rushed ships, planes and other equipment to an area about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Wreckage of the Titan was subsequently found on the ocean floor about 330 yards (300 meters) off the bow of the Titanic, Coast Guard officials said.
Scheduled to appear later in the hearing are OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein and former scientific director, Steven Ross, according to a list compiled by the Coast Guard. Numerous guard officials, scientists, and government and industry officials are also expected to testify.
Tony Nissen, head engineer for OceanGate, leaves after his testimony at the US coastguard hearing yesterday
Pictured: Stockton Rush, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of OceanGate, who was killed in the disaster
Pictured: Businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman who died on the vessel
Among those not on the hearing witness list is Rush’s widow, Wendy Rush, the company’s communications director. Lochridge said Wendy Rush had an active role in the company when he was there.
Asked about Wendy Rush’s absence, Leake said the Coast Guard does not comment on the reasons for not calling specific individuals to a particular hearing during ongoing investigations. She said it’s common for a Marine Board of Investigation to ‘hold multiple hearing sessions or conduct additional witness depositions for complex cases.’
OceanGate has no full-time employees at this time but will be represented by an attorney during the hearing, the company said in a statement.
The ongoing Marine Board of Investigation is the highest level of marine casualty investigation conducted by the Coast Guard. When the hearing concludes, recommendations will be submitted to the Coast Guard’s commandant. The National Transportation Safety Board is also conducting an investigation.
