A former employee of the shipping company involved in building the Titan submarine that exploded last year killing five people has predicted disaster due to safety breaches. The accident occurred during an expedition to the sunken Titanic in the North Atlantic.
The Guardian writes about this.
David Lockridge, former chief operating officer of OceanGate, the company that developed the Titan, said in a hearing with the U.S. Coast Guard that he repeatedly warned management about potential risks associated with the submersible’s safety, but his warnings went unheeded.
The announcement comes after the Coast Guard first released a video of the wreckage of the Titan. The footage shows the damaged tail cone on the ocean floor, surrounded by the ship’s remains.
Lockridge stressed that the main objective of the OceanGate project was “to make a profit” and that the scientific aspect was largely ignored.
He also expressed doubts about the quality of the Titan’s construction, which began in 2017. “From the beginning I did not trust the safety of the device and I spoke out loudly about it,” he said.
In 2018, Lockridge was fired, after which the company filed a lawsuit against him, accusing him of disclosing confidential information to regulators. OceanGate also alleged that Lockridge ignored the lead engineer’s opinion. As a result, the dispute was settled in November 2018.
Tragedy with the submarine “Titan”.
The Guardian recalls that US Coast Guard hearings into the submarine accident began more than a year after the tragedy. The Titan exploded in deep water due to ocean pressure, killing five people, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush. The dead also included British explorer Hamish Harding, businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, and French diver Paul-Henri Narjolet.
Cursor previously reported that cameraman Abby Jackson and the crew of the OceanGate expedition filmed the moment the Titan submarine was heading to the Titanic wreck site.
