the former employee talked about the process of working on the expedition

Investigation explosion on the ship “Titan”, which made a trip to the wreckage of the “Titanic”, showed that the board of the submarine had not passed the necessary inspection, and the team was in a hurry to start the dive.

Data on the work on the mission became known during a series of hearings conducted by the US Coast Guard as part of the investigation into the tragedy. informs The Guardian.

Thanks to the visual reproduction of the trip, it was revealed that during the journey the crew members communicated with the personnel on the support ship “Polar Prince” using text messages.

“Everything is fine here”said one of the last texts sent from the Titan.

Shortly thereafter, on June 18, 2023, a submarine exploded.

Representatives of the coast guard believe that long-term storage – for seven months – could affect the submarine’s serviceability.

The ship’s hull also failed to undergo a standard third-party inspection procedure before launch, they said.

Tony Nissen, the former CTO of OceanGate, which owned the Titan boat, testified that the team was in a hurry to launch the mission into private underwater research.

When asked if the workers felt under pressure, he said: “100%”.

Investigators also asked Nissen whether he believed pressure from company co-founder Stockton Rush compromised the safety of the ship.

“No… that’s a hard question to answer because we could do endless testing with unlimited time and budget”– he said after a long pause.

In addition, the former technical director said that in 2018, during a test run, “Titan” was struck by lightning. In his opinion, this could damage the hull of the submarine.

Tony Nissen was fired from OceanGate in 2019. According to him, this was preceded by his ban on launching the ship on a trip to the Titanic wreckage. He then informed Stockton Rush that the Titan “doesn’t work the way we thought”.

A former company employee said the submarine was later tested and adjusted before diving. He also reported that he did not trust the operational personnel of the company and even at the request of Stockton Rush refused to pilot the submarine.

Tony Nissen claims that working for Rush was “difficult” because the company’s co-founder often worried about the costs of the work schedules. Also, Stockton Rush’s wishes changed every day, Nissen says.

Currently, the US Coast Guard is conducting the highest level of marine accident investigation to find out the cause of the tragedy on board the “Titan”.

It is expected that after the completion of the hearings, the employees of the service will submit their conclusions for confirmation to the head of the department. The National Transport Safety Council is also conducting a parallel investigation into the destruction of the “Titan”.

“It is impossible to find words that could ease the loss of the families affected by this tragic incident. But we hope that this hearing will help shed light on the cause of the tragedy and prevent it from happening again.”said Jason Neubauer of the Coast Guard’s investigative division, who presided over the hearing.

We will remind you that the submarine “Titan” disappeared during the expedition to the wreck of the Titanic on June 18, 2023.

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

Later, the US Coast Guard wreckage was discovered submarines on the seabed. This proved that the Titan had exploded during the dive, killing its crew.

It turned out that OceanGate’s Titan submarine, built of carbon fiber, certified only for diving up to 1.3 thousand meters – this is much less than the depth where the wreckage of the “Titanic” lies.

On July 7, the OceanGate company, which organized tours to the sunken Titanic, stopped its activity.

In August 2024, the family of Frenchman Paul-Henri Narjolet, who died during a private trip, filed a lawsuit for $50 million against OceanGate. The family accuses the owners of the submarine of gross negligence, which led to the death of the crew.