CNN
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A former OceanGate chief scientist said the Titan submersible malfunctioned six days before it imploded in June 2023, killing all five people on board.
Steven Ross, a marine scientist and crew member of Dive 87 on Titan’s fourth mission in 2023, testified at a hearing Thursday into the ship’s tragic implosion that a platform malfunction during that dive caused all five people on board to collide with the back of the submersible for at least an hour.
The dive was aborted because, during the ascent to the surface, a platform malfunction caused by a problem with the variable ballast tank, which controlled the buoyancy of the submersible, caused the platform to invert 45 degrees with the aft bow facing upwards.
The dive, led by Stockton Rush, founder and CEO of the ship’s operator, OceanGate, took place on June 12 about 460 miles from the Titanic site.
“The pilot crashed into the rear bulkhead, the rest of the passengers flipped over, I was left standing on the rear bulkhead, one passenger was hanging upside down, the other two managed to get stuck in the bow cap,” Ross said, adding that no one was injured.
Rush had told passengers there was a problem with the variable ballast tank valve, Ross said. Because the platform malfunction took a long time to correct, the dive was aborted and passengers returned to the surface to deal with the problem.
“It was uncomfortable and unpleasant and it took a long time to correct the problem,” Ross said, adding that he did not know whether the crew conducted a hull inspection after the dive.
He said he knew the Titan submersible had not been inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard in 2021, 2022 or 2023.
Ross also mentioned two incidents that occurred during the 2022 Titanic expedition dives, including a loud bang heard upon surfacing on dive 80.
“There was a discussion about this noise with the crew, mission specialists and scientists. The theory of the noise was that there was probably a shift in the pressure hull in its metal cradle that, when it settled back into place, could have made this loud noise,” Ross said.
On dive 81, Ross said there was a thruster malfunction. The pilot, Scott Griffith, discovered that the controls for one of the thrusters were reversed while they were on the bottom. Griffith had to operate the thrusters with the controls reversed.
Before Titan’s fourth mission for the 2023 Titanic expedition, Ross said he was told the submersible “had hit an obstacle while being towed at night” and it was speculated that it had been caused by abandoned fishing gear, “but it was inconclusive” and he had not been informed of any damage caused by the obstacle.
The submersible lost contact with its mother ship while diving toward the Titanic on June 18, 2023. When it failed to resurface, an international search and rescue mission took place in the remote waters several hundred miles southeast of Newfoundland, Canada.
Authorities eventually concluded that the ship had suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” a sudden inward collapse caused by immense pressure. Debris from the submersible was found on the sea floor several hundred yards from the Titanic, and authorities recovered “suspected human remains” believed to belong to the victims.
Rush, the founder of OceanGate, businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood, businessman Hamish Harding and French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet were all killed.
New video shows Titan submersible on seabed
Rush was involved in a submersible accident in 2016, when he panicked while piloting the Cyclops 1 submersible on a dive to the wreck of the Andrea Doria, according to David Lochridge, a former director of marine operations for OceanGate who raised concerns about the safety of the Titan submersible.
Lochridge was originally supposed to pilot the submersible, he said in testimony this week. When the CEO wanted to pilot the vessel, Lochridge objected before eventually convincing Rush to allow him to join the dive.
Rush made several mistakes during the dive, Lochridge said, including ignoring current problems and keeping his distance from the wreck.
Lochridge said he tried to help and guide Rush, but Rush continued to defend himself and drove the submersible “full speed” into the wreck of the Andrea Doria, causing Lochridge to become upset and use profanities, he said.
“At that point, his behavior was unprofessional, he started to panic and the first thing that came to his mind was, ‘Do we have enough survival gear on board?'” Lochridge said, adding that he had to calm him down. “We’re stuck, we’re stuck, we’re stuck,” he quoted Rush as saying.
Lochridge said he asked Rush to give him the controller, but Rush refused, and crew member Renata Rojas “screamed at Stockton to give me the damn controller, she had tears in her eyes.”
However, on Thursday, Rojas, an OceanGate mission specialist and Titan 2023 volunteer, gave his account of Andrea Doria’s dive that contradicts Lochridge’s.
“I saw David Lochridge’s account of the events, he had to do another dive,” she said in her testimony. “No one was panicking, no one was crying and there was certainly no swearing or screaming.”
She said she did not know why Lochridge took the controls from Rush and said the controller had been placed at Lochridge’s feet by Rush.
“I can tell you that I did not use any foul language and I was not actually the one asking Stockton to give the controller to Lochridge,” she said.
Asked if the exchange between Rush and Lochridge was tense, Rojas said yes, but that “in my opinion, they both behaved professionally.”
In his testimony Tuesday, Lochridge said the Titan tragedy could have been prevented if U.S. safety authorities had investigated his complaints. He also lambasted OceanGate’s corporate culture, which is focused on “making money” and offers “very little scientific results.”
“I believe that if OSHA had attempted to investigate the seriousness of the concerns that I repeatedly raised, this tragedy may have been avoided,” Lochridge said.
Lochridge earlier described a 2018 report in which he expressed safety concerns about OceanGate’s operations and said there was “no way I would sign that.” He said he had “no confidence” in the submersible’s construction.
Lochridge said he contacted OSHA by email eight months after he was fired by OceanGate in 2018 to reiterate that he was “extremely concerned” about the safety of the Titan. He said he felt “deeply disappointed” that his warnings were not immediately investigated.
CNN has reached out to OSHA for comment. A representative for OceanGate declined to comment on Tuesday’s testimony.
Rojas testified through tears during Thursday’s hearing and reiterated her sense of confidence in the transparency she said she experienced as a mission specialist and volunteer.
Rojas said that after each day of diving, there would be debriefings where they would discuss what went wrong and what went well.
“I found them to be very transparent about everything. Anyone could ask questions,” Rojas said.
Aside from a dinghy problem, Rojas said she noticed no problems the day the ship imploded, and she described all the passengers as excited and eager to set off on their trip.
“They were just really excited to go. That’s the memory I have of it,” Rojas said through tears. “Nobody was really nervous. They were excited about what they were going to see.”
“Nothing will bring our friends back.”
