Craft carrying tourists to explore Titanic wreckage went missing. Experts had raised safety concerns long back

A tourist submersible, with five people onboard, that embarked on an expedition to visit the Titanic's wreckage went missing in the Atlantic Ocean. Search teams are looking for ‘sign of life’ in the area where the vessel lost contact.

Also read: 'Banging' sound heard by crew searching submersible near Titanic wreck: Report

Long before the submersible was operational, several experts along with marine operations director of OceanGate, the parent company that owns the vessel, David Lochridge raised alarms regarding the safety of future passengers.

According to the New York Times, Lockridge had earlier prompted the company that the vessel needed more testing before it is handed over to a new crew. He also stressed on ‘the potential dangers to passengers of the Titan as the submersible reached extreme depths’.

Lochridge further went to report in court on the alleged refusal of Stockton Rush, the chief executive of the company, to have the vessel inspected and certified by any agency. He alleged that Rush was ‘unwilling to pay’ for such an assessment.

Experts including industry leaders, oceanographers and deep-sea explorers had also warned about OceanGate's ‘experimental’ approach that could lead to a ‘catastrophic’ issue with the expedition project. Lochridge also reported to the court that the certified depth the vessel could go for passengers' view is down to 1,300 metres – much less than the depth where the Titanic wreckage is lying, i.e. around 4,000 metres.

However, the lawsuit by Lochridge landed him in being accused of sharing confidential data outside the company and an eventual laying off from the company.

Rush was also there among other passengers in the vessel and he was serving as a pilot when it went missing. A British businessman and explorer, French maritime expert and British father-son duo from a prominent Pakistani family were among the crew members onboard the submersible.

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