New deep-sea footage of doomed Titan sub

Never-before-seen footage of the doomed Titan submersible’s wreckage on the sea floor has been shown at a hearing into the tragedy. Watch video.

Eerie new footage shows the doomed Titan submersible’s broken tail cone resting on the ocean floor after its implosion last year.

The Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation released the never-before-seen footage as part of an ongoing public hearing into the tragedy, which claimed the lives of all five passengers on a tour to see the wreckage of the Titanic.

The deep sea footage shows a piece of the sub’s tail cone wedged into the sand, with the remotely operated camera marking it as being more than 3775 meters deep.

“This video led to the conclusive evidence of the catastrophic loss of the submersible Titan and the death of all five members aboard,” the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation wrote alongside the video.

It comes as the hearing was told more than 100 issues were recorded on the vessel in the year’s leading up to its demise.

Investigators revealed that the vessel suffered 70 equipment issues in 2021 and 48 issues in 2022.

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CEO PREVIOUSLY CRASHED SUB INTO SHIPWRECK

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush insisted on piloting an earlier variation of the doomed Titan submersible himself, crashing it into a shipwreck off the coast of Massachusetts, a hearing has heard.

On day two of what will be a two week hearing, star witness and whistleblower, former OceanGate director of marine operations David Lochridge, took the stand.

Mr Lochridge spoke about a terrifying incident which occurred in 2016 – seven years before the Titan imploded on June 18, 2023 killing all five people on board.

In the 2016 incident, an angry Mr Rush allegedly insisted on piloting the Cyclops 1 despite the warnings of Mr Lochridge to steer clear of the wreck of the Andrea Doria.

David Lochridge was sacked after pointing out flaws in the submersible craft Titan. Picture; OceanGate.

Mr Lochridge said Mr Rush “smashed straight down” into the shipwrecked and then began to panic as shipwreck debris floated around them.

Mr Rush allegedly refused to hand over the PlayStation controller which piloted the vessel until he was screamed at by one of the three terrified paying customers who were also on-board.

“Every time I went to take the controller from him, he pushed it farther and farther behind him,” Mr. Lochridge said.

Mr Lochridge said when Mr Rush did finally give up the controller, he did so by throwing at his head.

Mr Lochridge’s description of his former employer’s underwater tantrum was part of his testimony that the Titan was doomed from the beginning.

“I had no confidence whatsoever” with how the Titan was being built,” Mr Lochridge said.

“There was a big push to get this done and a lot of steps along the way were missed,” including safety concerns.

“Stockton had no experience building submersibles. No one did.”

Mr Lochridge, who said he was fired in 2018 due to his repeatedly raising safety concerns, said he explicitly warned them about the Titan shortly before he got the sack.

“It is my opinion that until suitable corrective actions are in place and closed out, Cyclops 2 (Titan) should not be manned during any of the upcoming trials,” Mr Lochridge wrote in an inspection report.

LAST WORDS FROM DOOMED SUB REVEALED

The US Coast Guard has released the first image of OceanGate’s doomed Titan submersible, showing the vessel’s tail cone on the ocean floor.

It also revealed the last words communicated by the crew of OceanGate’s experimental submersible.

On the first day of what will be a two week hearing, a visual animation of the journey of the Titan before it imploded was revealed.

One image showed the text bubble, “all good here”.

Crew aboard the Titan were communicating with those on the support ship Polar Prince, on the ocean’s surface, according to the presentation.

Contact appears to have been lost after the Polar Prince sent repeated texts asking if Titan could still see the ship on its on-board display.

There was no response to that question, which was repeated numerous time.

The five passengers killed when the Titan submersible imploded: (L-R, top to bottom) Hamish Harding, Stockton Rush, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Suleman Dawood and his father Shahzada Dawood. Picture: AFP

The US Coast Guard also revealed the first image of the Titan submersible after it imploded, which shows the vessel’s severed tail cone eerily resting on the ocean floor.

Four days after the Titan vanished, wreckage found about 500 metres from the bow of the Titanic. Months later, divers found human remains among debris.

OceanGate was plagued with equipment problems in the years before the disaster, and had even fired an engineering director who would not approve a deep sea expedition, according to testimony offered at the hearing.

Previous expeditions also saw major problems, such as 70 equipment issues in 2021 and 48 additional issues in 2022, investigators revealed.

A haunting final photo of the Titan sub after implosion. Picture: Supplied

Investigators said in the months before the trip the vessel had been stored in subzero temperatures outdoors at a facility in Newfoundland.

Less than a fortnight before the ill-fated voyage, the Titan was tested and found “partially sunk.”

And just days before it catastrophically imploded, five people on-board the Titan were thrown around as the vessel resurfaced from a mission.

OceanGate Expeditions’ Titan submersible was plagued by problems according to testimony delivered at a hearing now underway. Picture: Handout / OceanGate Expeditions / AFP

The trial, conducted by the US Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation, heard from

witness Tony Nissen, a former engineering director at OceanGate, who called the Coast Guard’s presentation on the history of problems that plagued the Titan “disturbing.”

Mr Nissen said he was fired in 2019 after he refused to approve an expedition to the Titanic wreck after he said the Titan’s hull was unsafe.

To cover up that aborted expedition, he said, OceanGate stated there were problems with a support ship.

“It wasn’t true,” he said. “We didn’t have a hull.”

A former engineer who was fired by OceanGate told the court that CEO Stockton Rush lied about failed missions and had no interest in meeting regulations. Picture: CBS Sunday Morning

Mr Nissen recalled how the Titan had been struck by lightning in 2018, and when he told the CEO of OceanGate, Stockton Rush, that the freak occurrence likely compromised the Titan’s hull, Mr Rush, who died in the implosion, brushed it off, saying, “It’ll be OK.”

Mr Rush also had “no desire” to gain certification or meet regulatory standards for the vessel.

Additionally, a transcript of the final communications from the vessel hints that the Titan crew may have considered abandoning the trip and resurfacing, according to the New York Times.

The crew told the Polar Prince via text that it was dropping two of the weights that helped it descend.

The last text the support ship received was sent when the Titan was more than two miles below the surface of the ocean.

Photos of the sunken Titanic wreck captured by explorers on board the OceanGate Titan, which sold submersible expeditions for $US250K. A trial is now underway. Picture: OceanGate/Facebook

It is expected that two dozen witnesses will testify before the board over the next two weeks.

The Titan submersible disappeared on 18 June, 2023.

On board were Mr Rush, businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman, British explorer Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French mariner and expert on the Titanic. His family has sued OceanGate last month, claiming that Mr Rush overstated the vessel’s safety.

The hearing continues.

Originally published as New deep-sea footage of doomed Titan sub