Ex-employees of Titanic submersible's owner to testify before Coast Guard panel
Former employees of the company that owned an experimental submersible that imploded on its way to the wreck of the Titanic are scheduled to testify before a Coast Guard investigatory board
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Former employees of the company that owned an experimental submersible that imploded on its way to the wreck of the Titanic are scheduled to testify before a Coast Guard investigatory board at an upcoming hearing.
The Titan submersible imploded in the North Atlantic in June 2023, killing all five people on board and setting off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration. The U.S. Coast Guard quickly convened a high-level investigation into what happened, and that inquiry is set to reach its public hearing phase on Sept. 16.
OceanGate, the Washington state company that owned the Titan submersible, suspended operations after the implosion that killed company co-founder Stockton Rush and the others. Witnesses scheduled to appear during the upcoming hearing include Guillermo Sohnlein, who is another co-founder of OceanGate, as well as the company's former engineering director, operations director and scientific director, according to documents provided by the Coast Guard.
The public hearing “aims to uncover the facts surrounding the incident and develop recommendations to prevent similar tragedies in the future,” the Coast Guard said in a statement Friday. The ongoing Marine Board of Investigation is the highest level of marine casualty investigation conducted by the Coast Guard and is “tasked with examining the causes of the marine casualty and making recommendations to improve maritime safety,” the statement said.
