The Titan submersible that imploded on its way to the wreck of the Titanic, killing all five people on board, had malfunctioned just days before last year’s fatal dive, the company’s scientific director has said.
Stephen Ross told a US Coast Guard panel investigating the tragedy on Thursday that a platform issue earlier in June 2023 caused passengers to “tumble about” and left one “hanging upside down”.
Days later, the Titan submersible, owned by underwater tourism company, OceanGate Expeditions, imploded en route to the wreck site in the North Atlantic Ocean.
All five passengers on the Titan perished
British adventurer Hamish Harding, father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, OceanGate Expeditions’ CEO Stockton Rush, and Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet all died.
Mr Ross told the hearing it took an hour to get the passengers out of the water after the earlier malfunction which left “one passenger hanging upside down” while “the other two managed to wedge themselves into the bow end cap”.
Mr Rush, who was piloting the submersible, crashed into bulkheading, and, though no one was injured, it was uncomfortable, he added.
He said he didn’t know if a safety assessment of the Titan or an inspection of its hull was carried out afterwards.
The Titanic wreck site is about 370 nautical miles (690 km) south-southeast of Newfoundland, Canada, at a depth of about 12,500 feet (3,800m).
Earlier, investigators heard from OceanGate’s mission specialist, who said some of the company’s staff were “very hard-working individuals that were just trying to make dreams come true”.
Salvaged pieces of the Titan submersible in St John’s in Canada in 2023. Pic: Reuters
Renata Rojas said she was “learning a lot and working with amazing people” at OceanGate.
Video footage of the submersible on the ocean floor was also published on Thursday.
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Titan sub final message revealed
Ms Rojas’s comments contrasted sharply with previous evidence, in which Mr Rush, the CEO, was described as volatile and short-tempered by other staff.
On Wednesday, former operations director David Lochridge called the vessel “an abomination” and said the company was committed only to making money.
Along with other witnesses, Mr Lochridge painted a picture of a company led by people who were impatient to get the unconventionally designed craft into the water.
Read more from Sky News:
The stories of the Titan submersible crew
What happened to the Titan?
When the submersible was reported missing, rescuers rushed ships, planes, and other equipment to an area about 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland.
Four days later, the wreckage of the Titan was found on the ocean floor about 300 metres off the bow of the Titanic, Coast Guard officials said.
The experimental Titan had been making voyages to the Titanic wreckage site since 2021.