Titan submersible malfunctioned just days before the Titanic dive, says sub's scientific director

Steven Ross, the scientific director for OceanGate, which owned the Titan submersible, testified before a U.S. Coast Guard Thursday and claimed that the vessel had experienced a malfunction shortly before its tragic final dive.

The Titan, which imploded in June 2023 while en route to the Titanic wreck, had suffered from a platform issue just days earlier. Ross explained that the malfunction had caused passengers onboard to be thrown around inside the submersible, and it was clearly an “uncomfortable” situation. It took the crew nearly an hour to extract the passengers from the water.

Ross also disclosed that Stockton Rush, co-founder of OceanGate and the submersible’s pilot, hit the bulkheading during the incident, although no injuries were reported. “One passenger was hanging upside down. The other two managed to wedge themselves into the bow end cap,” he said.

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However, Ross was uncertain whether a safety inspection or hull assessment was conducted following this accident.

What happened that day?

The Titan’s final dive took place on June 18, 2023. Communication with the submersible was lost after a brief exchange about its depth and weight as it descended. One of the last messages sent from the Titan to its support vessel, the Polar Prince, stated, “all good here.” However, the submersible soon imploded, killing everyone aboard. The wreckage was later found just 330 yards from the Titanic's bow.

The panel investigating the implosion has heard several days of testimony, with many witnesses raising concerns about OceanGate’s operational practices. Co-founder Rush was among the five individuals who perished when the submersible imploded.

OceanGate was only ‘making money….no science’ was there

David Lochridge, former director of operations at OceanGate, testified that he had frequently clashed with Rush over safety concerns, saying, “The whole idea behind the company was to make money. There was very little in the way of science.”

However, Renata Rojas, a mission specialist for the company, dismissed Lochridge's claim and said, “He must have gone on a different dive” during her testimony on Thursday. She said, “I was learning a lot and working with amazing people. Some of those people are very hardworking individuals that were just trying to make dreams come true.”

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“I knew what I was doing was very risky. I never at any point felt unsafe by the operation.”

The Coast Guard's public hearing began earlier in September 2023 and is expected to continue through the following week.

OceanGate has suspended its operations following the submersible mishap and no longer has any full-time employees.

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