Titan submersible hearing begins as questions over what went wrong linger
An image of debris of the Titan submersible recovered from the ocean floor and the crew's final communication — including "all good here" — were among the details shared Monday during the U.S.
An image of debris of the Titan submersible recovered from the ocean floor and the crew's final communication — including "all good here" — were among the details shared Monday during the U.S. Coast Guard's investigatory hearing into what caused the deep-water vessel to implode last year, killing all five people on board.
The Titan had suffered more than 100 equipment issues in the two years before the calamity, investigators also revealed as concerns over safety standards came to light during the first day of testimony.
Tony Nissen, who was hired in 2016 as the engineering director at OceanGate, an underwater exploration company, testified that his relationship with its CEO, Stockton Rush, "soured" as the Titan was being completed in early 2018 and set to undergo testing. That year, the submersible was struck by lightning, Nissen said, compromising its experimental carbon fiber hull.
The Titan's tail cone on the sea floor.Pelagic Research Services via USCGNissen said there was also a crack in the hull, which he didn't believe was salvageable, and so he declined to greenlight a planned expedition for the following year.
"I wouldn't sign off on it," Nissen testified, "so I got terminated."
Rating: 5