(Washington) The multiple failures of the Oceangate company are the main cause of the implosion of the private submersible Titanwhich claimed the lives of five people during an exploration of the wreckage of Titanic In 2023, according to a report by the American coast guards unveiled on Tuesday.
Two years after this highly publicized disaster, the 335 -page survey report Oceangate Expeditions, a company specializing in tourist and scientific expeditions in extreme environments, found guilty of many shortcomings in terms of design and maintenance.
These failures are the “first cause” of the accident, concluded the coast guard.
The Titan, a small submersible about 6.5 meters long from Oceangate, had plunged on June 18, 2023 to observe the wreckage of the wreckage Titanic And had to resurface seven hours later, but the contact had been lost less than two hours after his departure.
A vast very publicized rescue operation had been initiated, but the submersible had been destroyed shortly after his dive by a “catastrophic implosion” killing the five passengers on the spot, including the 77-year-old French scientist Paul-Henri Nargeolet, nicknamed “M. Titanic”, and the boss of Oceangate, Stockton Rush, 61.
Photo David Hiscock, Reuters archives
View of the ship Horizon Arcticwhen returning from the parts recovered from the submersible Titanin the port of St. John’s, in Newfoundland, June 28, 2023.
Shahzada Dawood, a 48-year-old Pakistano-British businessman and his 19-year-old son, Suleman, as well as a 58-year-old British explorer, Hamish Harding, also died.
Controversies over negligence had emerged very quickly after the accident.
The American coast guards had opened an investigation and carried out, in September 2024, a series of public audiences with around twenty witnesses, including former oceangate employees.
“Intimidation tactics”
“This maritime accident and the loss of five human lives were avoidable,” said Jason Neubauer, chairman of the Coast Guard Inquiry Commission, in a press release accompanying the publication of the final report.
The latter reveals that Oceangate used, “for several years before the accident”, “to intimidation tactics, derogations granted for scientific operations, and took advantage of its good reputation to escape the surveillance of the regulatory authorities”.
The company “was finally able to operate the Titan In the total margin of the protocols established for deep water dives, which had however historically made it possible to ensure a good security assessment for commercial submersibles, ”add the coast guards.
They also denounce a “toxic working environment”, which “dissuaded employees and subcontractors from expressing their concerns in terms of security”.
During public hearings, in September 2024, Tony Nissen, a licensed Oceangate engineer in 2019, had testified that he was under pressure from the business owner to lie and affirm that the submersible was certain despite disturbing tests.
Another witness had said that the Titan had experienced a serious incident a few days before the fatal accident.
Oceangate, which made 250,000 dollars pay the place in the submersible, suspended its commercial activities after the drama.
The family of the French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet continued the company a year ago and demanded $ 50 million for “serious negligence”.
