The company that owned the doomed Titan submersible on which five people died has suspended commercial operations.
A small message in the top-left corner of OceanGate’s website now reads: “OceanGate has suspended all exploration and commercial operations.”
The statement comes two weeks after the sub imploded as it descended to the wreck of the Titanic.
Three Britons died - billionaire Hamish Harding, businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman - along with OceanGate boss Stockton Rush and French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
It follows reports that a former staff member had repeatedly voiced safety concerns to his colleagues.
David Lochridge, formerly OceanGate’s director of marine operations, voiced his concerns about CEO Stockton Rush with a colleague in a series of emails after he was fired by the company in 2018.
Court documents filed after he was sacked claimed Mr Lochridge had inspected the Titan and found glue was coming away at the seams of its ballast bags.
He also allegedly found improperly placed mounting bolts that threatened to cause a rupture and snagging hazards with important components that were said to have been attached with zip-ties.
Mr Lochridge was also concerned about the presence of flammable flooring, along with interior vinyl wrapping that he said would regularly emit highly toxic gases upon ignition.
He was particularly concerned about the sub’s untested carbon fibre core that ultimately failed amid water pressure of 6,000lb per square inch at the icy depths where the Titanic rests.
The New Yorker reports Mr Lochridge emailed OceanGate project associate Rob McCallum, who also left over safety concerns, and said: “I don’t want to be seen as a Tattle tale but I’m so worried he kills himself and others in the quest to boost his ego. I would consider myself pretty ballsy when it comes to doing things that are dangerous, but that sub is an accident waiting to happen.
“There’s no way on earth you could have paid me to dive the thing.”
Mr Lochridge argued the Titan needed more testing - saying passengers could be endangered when it reached “extreme depths”, according to the lawsuit.
But The New Yorker reported a furious Mr Rush fired him almost on the spot.
