A hearing about the Titan submersible tragedy has unveiled some of the crew’s final messages alongside harrowing images of the wreckage on the ocean bed.
This week, the US Coast Guard's Marine Board of Investigation heard how the submersible crew communicated the words “all good here” with the surface shortly before disaster struck.
Pictures also showed broken pieces of the submersible sitting on the Atlantic seafloor, shedding further light on what happened to the deep-water vessel.
Over a year ago, five people died during an underwater expedition to the wreckage of the Titanic.
A widespread search for the vessel began amid concern that the crew was still alive despite losing contact with the surface. However, the wreckage was later discovered.
Investigations into the incident are ongoing, with the hearing expected to provide more answers about the vessel’s implosion.
The US Coast Guard said: "The hearing will examine all aspects of the loss of the Titan, including pre-accident historical events, regulatory compliance, crewmember duties and qualifications, mechanical and structural systems, emergency response and the submersible industry."
Some 24 witnesses, including 10 former employees of Titan’s owner OceanGate, are also due to speak at the hearing.
Here’s what you need to know.
What was the Titan submersible?
The Titan submersible was a small, deep-sea submersible operated by OceanGate Expeditions. It was designed to take paying tourists, scientists, and researchers to the wreck of the Titanic, nearly 4,000 metres (13,123 feet) below the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean.
Titan was a 6.7-metre-long (22 feet) vessel made primarily from carbon fibre and titanium, capable of carrying a pilot and up to four passengers.
Reports state it was about the size of a minivan and was a reasonably compact space for those onboard. They had to sit cross-legged on the floor and had just one porthole to view the wreckage.
Before the tragedy in June 2023, the Titan submersible had completed about 13 successful dives to the Titanic wreck site. OceanGate Expeditions had conducted these expeditions since 2021. Despite these previous missions, the safety of the submersible was a subject of concern among some experts due to its unconventional design and lack of certification from independent marine safety organisations.
According to a former passenger, CBS News journalist David Pogue, he had to sign a liability waiver before his trip in 2022 that acknowledged the submersible was “experimental.”
What happened to the Titan crew?
Nearly two hours into its voyage on June 18, 2023, the Titan submersible was deep in the North Atlantic Ocean. It descended towards the wreck of the Titanic, located approximately 3,800 metres (12,500 feet) below the surface. The exact location of the Titanic is about 370 miles (595 kilometres) off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
Titan lost contact with its tour operator, prompting a large-scale search. Onboard were five passengers: Stockton Rush, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, and his son, Suleman.
Initially, there was hope that the men might still be alive, sparking a race against time and drawing significant media attention. However, a remotely operated vehicle discovered a debris field on the seabed four days later. This was later confirmed to be from the Titan. Sonar recordings also suggested an implosion had occurred. Tragically, all five onboard perished.
In August 2024, a wrongful death lawsuit shed more light on the lead-up to their deaths. The suit stated: “While the exact cause of failure may never be determined, experts agree that the Titan’s crew would have realised exactly what was happening.
“The vaunted "acoustic safety system" would have alerted the crew that the carbon-fibre hull was cracking under extreme pressure, prompting the pilot to release weight and attempt to abort.” The suit claimed that “common sense dictates that the crew were well aware they were going to die, before dying”.
What has the hearing found?
The hearing has highlighted safety failures and a rush to get the vessel into the water.
The submersible had been exposed to the elements while in storage and had no third-party checks.
One engineer told the hearing he had refused to pilot the vessel because of safety concerns.
Another former employee said according to the Independent: “The way this company was going about this project, bypassing all the standardised rules and regulations that are set in place by people with experience...It was inevitable something was going to happen. It was just a [question of] when.”
The employee was reportedly fired in 2018 after voicing his concerns with an earlier version of the craft.
What happens next?
The hearing is expected to last two weeks, during which the US Coast Guard will hear the testimony of many people linked to OceanGate.
It will likely lead to recommendations to prevent something like this from happening again — and ascertain more facts about what caused the implosion.
US Coast Guard Chief of Office of Investigations, Jason Neubauer, added: “We are charged to also detect misconduct or negligence by credentialed mariners, and if there’s any detection of a criminal act, then we will present our findings to the DOJ [Department of Justice].”
