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“All good here” was the chilling final message the Titan submersible sent to the surface last year before it imploded, killing five people onboard including Engro Corp. Vice Chairman Shahzada Dawood and his son, while diving to the wreck of the Titanic.
That was among details revealed in US Coast Guard hearings that began on Monday, in Charleston, South Carolina.
They aim to uncover what led to the disaster on June 18, 2023.
OceanGate Expeditions founder Stockton Rush was piloting the 22-foot submersible when the craft imploded, taking his life and those of four other passengers: a British billionaire, a French explorer, as well as a Pakistani-born businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.
Shahzada Dawood was the Vice Chairman of Engro Corporation Limited (Engro Corp), one of the largest business conglomerates in Pakistan.
Two Pakistanis on sub that went missing on trip to Titanic wreckage
It also raised questions about the unregulated nature of such expeditions and OceanGate’s decision to forego third-party industry review and certification of Titan’s novel design.
Testimonies by former employees on Monday included stories of safety concerns, poorly-trained staff, and negligence by Rush.
“Would you have felt comfortable as the director of engineering going down in the Titan submersible, specifically hole one to full rated depths?”
“That’s almost the best question here, isn’t it?”
Former OceanGate Director of Engineering, Tony Nissen, described having a “sour” relationship with Stockton Rush.
“I told him, I’m not getting in it. And he said, Why? And I said, Because the operations crew, I don’t trust them.”
“But I didn’t trust Stockton either. Take a look at where we started when I was hired, but nothing that I got was the truth. I was held with a bag and trying to save him and I couldn’t quit.”
Another employee, former OceanGate human resources and finance director Bonnie Carl, was skeptical of the business:
“I would point out there were some young engineers and I mean late teens, twenties, without any experience we were aware of, wrenching on the sub and without supervision right there on them. And that made me nervous. I know I don’t know what I’m doing…”
Ships, planes search for sub that went missing on trip to Titanic wreckage
The deaths in the Titan incident were the first in over 60 years of civilian deep-sea submergence, according to industry experts.
The hearings will continue over the course of two weeks.
According to Jason Neubauer, chairman of the Marine Board of Investigation, any misconduct or negligence uncovered in the hearing will be reported to the Department of Justice, but the main focus is to make sure something like this does not happen again.