Much of the world is fixated on the submersible Titan, which vanished soon after it descended into the deep sea on its way to the Titanic wreckage with five passengers aboard. The Coast Guard has now found ruins of the minivan-sized titanium vessel, and the company running the tour has put out a statement that its passengers have perished, as no survivors of the vehicle implosion were found.
For those familiar with OceanGate — the private exploration company that facilitated the tour — this was not an out-of-the-blue catastrophe, sadly, but a predictable event. Years ago, OceanGate’s former director of marine operations reported his safety concerns, including about the carbon fiber hull and the lack of vehicle testing. Rather than heed his concerns, the company terminated him, according to a complaint filed in federal court.
His concerns were echoed by dozens of other concerned submersible craft experts, who signed on to a letter addressed to the chief executive of OceanGate in 2018, bringing forward significant engineering flags and imploring the company to agree to pay for an audit by a certification company. Again, the company did not heed the concerns.
