The US Coast Guard has revealed the first image of OceanGate’s doomed Titan submersible, which shows the vessel’s severed tail cone eerily resting on the ocean floor.
The image was made public at a press conference Monday depicting the aftermath of the experimental watercraft’s implosion at around 12,500 feet below sea level on June 18, 2023 killing all 5 passengers on board.
The photo was taken during the search for the sub last year, with investigators also preparing an animated video recreating Titan’s descent into the Atlantic Ocean.
The video shows the back-and-forth messages sent between the Titan and the Polar Prince support ship during the dive.
The final message the Polar Prince received was, “All good here,” before the Titan went dark at around 10:47 a.m.
Within two minutes after the final message, the Polar Prince had “lost tracking” of the submersible, according to investigators.
Among the dead were OceanGate CEO and cofounder Stockton Rush, who was operating the Titan, as well as British adventurer Hamish Harding, French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet and two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman.
During Monday’s hearing, the Coast Guard heard from Tony Nissen, OceanGate’s former engineering director, who described a slew of safety concerns in the company allegedly ignored by Rush.
Investigators also revealed that Titan suffered dozens of problems during previous trips, including 70 equipment issues in 2021 and 48 issues in 2022.
OceanGates’ former finance director Bonnie Carl and former contractor Tym Catterson are also scheduled to testify on Monday.
Carl told the Coast Guard that she had never seen one of OceanGate’s supposed mission specialists sign waivers with the company.
She ultimately described the mission specialists as simply wealthy customers without any real qualification.
Like Nissen, Carl said that all major decisions within the company were left to Rush, and that she, too, left OceanGate over safety concerns.
Last month Nargeolet’s family filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit stemming from the implosion, alleging the crew experienced “terror and mental anguish” and accusing its operator OceanGate of gross negligence.
