Deadly mission to “Titanic”: an ex-employee of the company says that 6 days before the sinking, the bathyscaphe broke

The investigation into the causes of the accident continues

OceanGate

Former scientific director of the company OceanGate, which organized the tragic the mission to the “Titanic”, said that a few days before the start of the dive, a breakdown had occurred on board the “Titanic”.

This was reported by a former employee of the company, Steven Ross, during hearings during the investigation into the tragedy that claimed the lives of five people. writes CNN.

According to him, six days before the explosion, a failure occurred during the dive on the “Titan”. The malfunction left five crew members pinned to the stern of the submarine for at least an hour.

A problem with the ballast tank, which controlled the boat’s buoyancy, caused the submarine’s platform to flip 45 degrees, causing its rear to be on top.

“The pilot crashed into the rear bulkhead, the rest of the passengers overturned, I ended up on the rear bulkhead, one passenger was hanging upside down, the other two managed to grab onto the nose end cover”– said Steven Ross, adding that no one was injured at the time.

The dive had to end prematurely.

As Stephen Ross recalls, the Titan was eventually fixed, but it “took a long time”. However, he does not know whether the hull of the boat was re-inspected after the repair.

Before the start of the tragic mission, as reported to Stephen Ross, the submarine “caught an obstacle while towing at night.” The OceanGate team believed it was caused by abandoned fishing gear.

According to Steven Rossi, such an explanation was “not convincing”, but he did not know whether the vessel had suffered any damage at the time.

The former chief scientist also said the submersible was not inspected by the US Coast Guard in 2021, 2022 or 2023. That is, “Titan” did not undergo a mandatory inspection by a third party, which was reported earlier.

Stephen Ross recalled during the hearing that there had been several similar incidents before. In particular, in 2022, while floating to the surface of the water on board the “Titan”, the company’s employees heard a loud sound that resembled an impact.

“There was a discussion of the explosion with the crew, mission specialists and scientists. The theory of the origin of the sound was that there was probably a displacement of the pressure vessel in its metal stand, which when it came back into place, it could have made such a loud noise.”he said.

During the next dive, the engine controls failed.

We will remind, the submarine “Titan” of the company OceanGate set off on a private mission to the wreck of the Titanic in June 2023.

“Everything is fine here”– was going in one of the last messages sent from the ship.

On June 18, we lost contact with the ship.

There were five crew members on board – billionaire businessman and researcher Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, French researcher Paul-Henri Narjolet, and OceanGate executive director Stockton Rush.

July 7, 2023 by OceanGate stopped its activity.

Revealed at the bottom of the ocean debris “Titan” testifies that the vessel suffered “catastrophic implosion” – that is, an explosion directed inwards. Pressure was probably the cause of the collapse.

The cause of the disaster is currently being investigated by the US Coast Guard and the National Board of safety in transport.