Coast Guard Schedules Much-Anticipated Hearing on Loss of the Sub Titan
The U.S. Coast Guard has set the schedule for the much-anticipated hearings on the loss of the submersible Titan, which imploded during a for-hire descent to the wreck of the Titanic last year. The series will begin on September 16, and will run for at least two weeks.
On June 18, 2023, the Titan went missing near the Titanic wreck site in the North Atlantic, about 800 nautical miles off Cape Cod. After a four-day search effort, contractors for the U.S. Coast Guard found the debris of the sub and human remains on the bottom. The sub had suffered a sudden, catastrophic implosion, killing all five passengers on board. The victims included Stockton Rush, 61, the sub's owner; explorer Hamish Harding, 58; French subsea adventurer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77; businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48; and his son Suleman Dawood, 19.
Salvors recovered the sub's wreckage and transferred it to the Coast Guard's custody for further investigation. Five agencies from the U.S. and Canada are involved, but the Coast Guard MBI - chaired by Capt. Jason Neubauer, who headed up the El Faro and Conception investigations - is in charge.
The witnesses who will testify at the high-profile Marine Board of Investigation hearings include 10 former employees of OceanGate, the sub's now-defunct developer and operator. The list includes two former engineering directors, Tony Nissen and Phil Brooks; co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein; and former operations director David Lochridge, among others. Multiple independent experts in submersible operation will join the event, including engineers from the University of Washington Applied Physics Lab, NASA, Boeing and ABS.
The Marine Board of Investigation is the Coast Guard's most serious and formal level of inquiry, and is reserved for major casualties with multiple loss of life. MBI hearings are always televised, and this set will be viewable on the official Coast Guard Youtube channel.
The family of victim Paul-Henri Nargeolet has filed a suit against OceanGate and Rush's estate, seeking $50 million for the "terror and mental anguish" suffered during the sub's final moments. The submersible was not independently inspected or classed, and it used novel construction methods, including a carbon fiber pressure hull. The suit alleges that OceanGate deliberately hid problems with the sub as it approached the start of commercial operations.
“We are hopeful that through this lawsuit we can get answers for the family as to exactly how this happened, who all were involved, and how those involved could allow this to happen,” attorney Tony Buzbee said in a statement.