A public hearing has started to investigate the Titan submersible's catastrophic failure during its Titanic wreck expedition, which claimed five lives. The Titan Marine Board of Investigation is hearing testimonies from 24 witnesses, including 10 former Oceangate employees. At the South Carolina hearing, an animated recreation of the Titan's ill-fated journey was presented, revealing the crew's final messages, Independent reported. A chilling 3-word text, "all good here," appeared on screen, sent just moments before the submersible's catastrophic implosion.
The recreation showed the Titan crew's communication with the support vessel, Polar Prince, which had requested improved communication after a brief loss of contact. The Polar Prince then asked the Titan crew if they could still see the support vessel on their onboard display. The crew responded with reassurance: "yes" and, "all good here'' – their last transmission.
At the hearing, The US Coast Guard also presented a haunting image of the OceanGate Titan submersible's tail cone, lying intact yet abandoned on the ocean floor at 12,500 feet.
At the hearing, Tony Nissen, ex-engineering director at OceanGate, also testified that he had raised safety concerns about the submersible during his tenure. Mr Nissen claimed that he refused to approve a 2019 dive into the Titanic wreck due to hull concerns, which led to his termination later that year. He noted that the Titan was struck by lightning during a test mission in 2018, and that might have compromised its hull. When questioned about internal pressure to deploy the Titan, his response was "100%."
According to investigators, the Titan submersible was plagued by numerous problems during previous expeditions, including 70 equipment issues reported in 2021 and 48 more in 2022.
The Titan submersible tragedy on June 18, 2023, claimed the lives of five individuals, including renowned British adventurer Hamish Harding, father-son duo Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, French national Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate Expeditions.
The two-week hearing into the catastrophe will feature evidence as to what went wrong and whether physical or design failure contributed to the accident, which garnered worldwide attention, as per AFP.
''There are no words to ease the loss endured by the families impacted by this tragic incident. But we hope that this hearing will help shed light on the cause of the tragedy and prevent anything like this from happening again,'' said Jason Neubauer of the Coast Guard Office of Investigations, who led the hearing.
