The US Coast Guard held a hearing on Monday relating to the OceanGate submersible implosion disaster from 2023, when the Titan imploded while descending to the Titanic wreckage last summer.
Among the last words heard from the crew of an experimental submersible headed for the wreck of the Titanic were “all good here,” according to a visual re-creation of the journey of the Titan before it imploded, killing all five on board.
The U.S. Coast Guard presented the animation Monday on the first day of what is expected to be a two-week hearing on the causes of the implosion. Crew aboard the Titan were communicating via text messages with staff aboard the support ship Polar Prince, according to the presentation.
The crew lost contact after an exchange of texts about the submersible’s depth and weight as it descended. The Polar Prince then sent repeated messages asking if the Titan could still see the ship on its onboard display. One of Titan’s final responses, which became spotty as it descended, was “all good here.”
The submersible was left exposed to the elements while in storage for seven months in 2022 and 2023, Coast Guard representatives said in their initial remarks Monday. The hull was also never reviewed by any third parties as is standard procedure, they said. That and its unconventional design subjected the Titan to scrutiny in the undersea exploration community.
The hearing’s first witness, OceanGate’s former engineering director, Tony Nissen, testified Monday that he felt rushed to start operations during his time with the company. When asked if there was pressure to get the Titan into the water, he responded “100%.”
The marine board also asked Nissen if he felt that the pressure compromised safety decisions and testing. After a long pause, he responded, “No. … That’s a difficult question to answer, because given infinite time and infinite budget, you could do infinite testing.”
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