OceanGate Titan Submersible Suffered Malfunction Days Before Fatal Implosion: Testimony Reveals
A former OceanGate scientific director has revealed that the Titan submersible, which tragically imploded in June 2023, killing all five people on board, suffered a major malfunction just six days before the fatal dive, CNN reports.
Steven Ross, a marine scientist and crew member on the Titan’s fourth mission in 2023, testified at a hearing about the incident. He described how a platform malfunction during a dive on June 12 caused all five passengers to be thrown violently to the back of the submersible for an hour.
The malfunction, attributed to a problem with the variable ballast tank that controls the submersible’s buoyancy, caused the platform to tilt 45 degrees, with the back bow facing upwards. This incident forced the dive to be aborted as the crew worked to correct the issue.
Ross stated that pilot Stockton Rush, the founder and CEO of OceanGate, informed the passengers of the problem with the ballast tank valve. The incident, which took considerable time to resolve, led to the dive being cut short.
Ross also shared details of two other incidents during the 2022 Titanic expedition dives. He recounted a loud bang heard while surfacing in Dive 80, which was attributed to a possible shifting of the pressure hull within its metal cradle.
Additionally, during Dive 81, Ross said there was a malfunction with the thrusters, where the pilot, Scott Griffith, discovered the controls for one of the thrusters were reversed. Griffith was forced to operate the thrusters with the reversed controls.
Prior to the Titan’s fourth mission in the 2023 Titanic expedition, Ross revealed he was informed that the submersible had snagged an obstruction while being towed at night. While it was assumed to be abandoned fishing gear, the incident was not thoroughly investigated and no damage caused by the obstruction was reported.
The Titan lost contact with its mother ship during its descent to the Titanic on June 18, 2023. When it failed to resurface, an extensive international search and rescue operation was launched in the remote waters southeast of Newfoundland, Canada.
Authorities later concluded that the submersible had imploded due to immense pressure. Debris from the vessel was found on the sea floor several hundred yards from the Titanic, and “presumed human remains” belonging to the victims were recovered.
The five victims included OceanGate founder Stockton Rush, businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, businessman Hamish Harding, and French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
