The Titan submersible’s scientific director says the submarine malfunctioned just before the Titanic’s dive

The scientific director of the company that owns the Titan submersible that imploded Last year, as he headed toward the wreck of the Titanic, he testified Thursday that the submarine malfunctioned just before the fatal dive.

Before a U.S. Coast Guard panel, Steven Ross described a platform problem encountered by the experimental submersible in June 2023, days before it imploded en route to the Titanic site. The malfunction sent passengers aboard the submersible “tumbling” and it took an hour to get them out of the water.

The submersible’s pilot, OceanGate co-founder Stockton Rush, crashed into a bulkhead during the malfunction, Ross said. No one was injured in the incident, Ross said, though he described it as uncomfortable.

“One passenger was hanging upside down. The other two managed to get stuck in the front hood,” Ross said, adding that he did not know if a safety assessment of the Titan or an inspection of its hull was conducted after the incident.

An inquiry committee listened to three days of testimony that raised questions about the company’s operations before the doomed mission. Rush was among five people died when the submersible imploded en route to the Titanic’s sinking site in June 2023.

Earlier Thursday, Renata Rojas, a mission specialist for the company, told the Coast Guard that the company was made up of capable people who wanted to “make dreams come true.” Rojas’ testimony was different from that of some previous witnesses, who have described the company as struggling from top to bottom and more focused on profit than science or safety.

“I learned a lot and worked with great people,” Rojas said. “Some of these people are very hardworking people who were just trying to make their dreams come true.”

Rojas also said she felt the company had been sufficiently transparent in the run-up to the Titanic’s dive. Her testimony was emotional at times, with the Coast Guard board offering her a brief break at one point so she could collect herself.

Rojas is a member of the Explorers Club, which lost members Hamish Harding and Paul-Henri Nargeolet in the Titan implosion. The club described Rush as “a friend of the Explorers Club” after the implosion.

“I knew what I was doing was very risky. I never felt in danger at any time during the operation,” Rojas said during his testimony Thursday.

Earlier this month, the Coast Guard opened a public hearing as part of a high-level investigation into the cause of the implosion. The public hearing began Sept. 16, and some testimony focused on problems the company faced before the deadly 2023 plunge.

Investigators also released underwater footage of the wreckage of the submersible, which shows the sub’s tail cone and other debris on the ocean floor.

At the hearing Tuesday, OceanGate’s former chief operating officer, David Lochridge, testified that he clashed frequently with Rush and believed the company was only in business to make money.

“The idea behind this business was to make money,” Lochridge said. “There was very little science in the business.”

The hearing is expected to continue through Friday, with more witnesses to come, and resume next week.

Lochridge and other witnesses painted a picture of a company run by people eager to get the boat with unconventional design The fatal accident has sparked a global debate about the future of private underwater exploration.

Coast Guard officials stressed at the start of the hearing that the submersible had not undergone an independent review, as is standard practice. That and Titan’s unusual design have subjected it to intense scrutiny from the underwater exploration community.

Washington state-based OceanGate suspended operations following the implosion. The company currently has no full-time employees, but has been represented by a lawyer during the hearing.

During the submersible’s final dive, on June 18, 2023, the crew lost contact after exchanging text messages about the Titan’s depth and weight as it descended. The support vessel Polar Prince then sent repeated messages asking if the Titan could still see the ship on its onboard display.

One of the last messages from the Titan crew to the Polar Prince before the submersible implosion stated, “Everything is fine here,” according to a visual reconstruction shown earlier in the hearing.

When the submersible was reported missing, rescuers rushed ships, planes and other equipment to an area about 700 kilometres south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Four days later, the wreckage of the Titan was found on the ocean floor about 300 metres from the Titanic’s bow, Coast Guard officials said.

No one on board survived. Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman were the other two people killed in the implosion.

OceanGate said it has fully cooperated with the Coast Guard and NTSB investigations from the beginning. The Titan had been making voyages to the Titanic wreck site since 2021.