'Experimental Approach Could Result In...': Firm Running Titanic Sub Ignored Warnings — Report

OceanGate, which operates the missing Titan submersible, did not have it certified. US court documents show that the company’s former employee had flagged potential safety problems with the vessel.

A former employee of OceanGate — the company that operates the missing Titan submersible — had cautioned about the potential safety problems with the vessel back in 2018. UAE-based British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding and two Pakistani businessmen are among five people who went missing in the Atlantic Ocean aboard the tourist submersible on a mission to view the wreckage of the iconic ocean liner the Titanic. According to a report by the BBC, US court documents show that David Lochridge, the company’s Director of Marine Operations, had flagged concerns in an inspection report.

According to the documents cited by the BBC, the report “identified numerous issues that posed serious safety concerns”, including the way the hull was tested.

Then Director of Marine Operations “stressed the potential danger to passengers of the Titan as the submersible reached extreme depths”.

He claimed that his warnings were neglected and when he called a meeting with OceanGate bosses, he was fired, as per the documents.

According to the BBC report, the company sued him for revealing confidential details and he countersued it for unfair dismissal. The lawsuit was later settled.

In another letter sent to OceanGate by the Marine Technology Society (MTS) in March 2018 and obtained by the New York Times, it was stated that “the current ‘experimental’ approach adopted by OceanGate... could result in negative outcomes (from minor to catastrophic).”

The Titan submersible was described as “experimental” by the company. It was built from an unusual material for a deep sea vessel.

Its hull, surrounding the hollow part where passengers sit, was made from carbon fibre, with titanium end plates and a small window at one end.

In a December 2018 statement, OceanGate said that the Titan had completed a 4,000 meter dive which “completely validates OceanGate's innovative engineering and the construction of Titan's carbon fiber and titanium hull”.

The shape of the submersible is also unusual, being tube-shaped as opposed to the hull of a deep-diving sub which is usually spherical and ensures it receives an equal amount of pressure. Titan’s hull would not be equally distributed pressure.

According to the court documents cited by the BBC, Lochridge also mentioned that he had urged OceanGate to get the submersible inspected and certified.

Submersibles can be certified or “classed” by marine organisations – such as the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) or DNV (a global accreditation organisation based in Norway) or Lloyds of London.

This certification ensures that the vehicle must meet certain standards on aspects including strength, stability, safety, and performance. The process includes reviewing the design and construction with testing and trials. Once the submersible is in service, it needs to be periodically checked to ensure it still meets these criteria.

However, certification of subs isn't mandatory.

Contact with the small sub was lost about an hour and 45 minutes into its dive in the mid-Atlantic on Sunday.

British-Pakistani billionaire Shahzada Dawood, 48-year-old vice chairman of Engro Corporation, accompanied by his 19-year-old son Suleman, were also on the sub, which remains missing since Sunday.

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