WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - According to a final report from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, OceanGate's Titan submersible's catastrophic implosion during its 2023 expedition to the Titanic wreckage was caused by poor engineering and inadequate testing. All five passengers perished in the accident, including Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate.
The NTSB discovered that the carbon fiber pressure hull of the experimental vessel had several structural defects and did not satisfy the minimum standards for strength and durability.
Additionally, the company neglected important testing, so before its final dive, it was not aware of the vessel's actual limitations or damage.
The agency came to the conclusion that if OceanGate had followed accepted safety procedures, the explosion, which took place almost 3,400 meters below the surface, could have been avoided.
The report also revealed serious issues with the company's culture. According to some workers, safety precautions were disregarded at work, and worries about transporting paying passengers in an experimental, uncertified submarine were discounted. Rush allegedly dismissed U.S. Coast Guard regulations, even making a joke about 'buying a congressman' to evade oversight, according to one former technician.
The results are consistent with a U.S. Coast Guard investigation that was made public earlier this year and described OceanGate's safety procedures as 'critically flawed.' The Coast Guard has been urged by both agencies to create new rules for manned submersibles and other deep-sea pressure vessels.
Since then, OceanGate has shut down. Calls for tighter regulation of private deep-sea exploration projects, an industry where innovation has far too frequently outpaced regulation, have been rekindled by the tragedy.
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