David Lochridge, a former director of marine operations for OceanGate, testified on Tuesday that the tragic implosion of the Titan submersible could have been averted had US safety authorities investigated his earlier warnings, CNN reported.
According to the report, during his testimony before the US Coast Guard inquiry into the June 2023 disaster, which claimed the lives of all five people aboard, Lochridge condemned OceanGate’s focus on profit over safety.
He criticised the company’s culture, stating it prioritized "making money" and contributed little to scientific advancement, raising questions about the company’s operational priorities.
“I believe that if OSHA had attempted to investigate the seriousness of the concerns I raised on multiple occasions, this tragedy may have been prevented,” the news outlet quoted Lochridge as saying at the end of Tuesday’s hearing.
Earlier, Lochridge in a 2018 report expressed safety concerns over OceanGate operations and said that “there was no way I was signing off on this.” He said he had “no confidence whatsoever” in the construction of the submersible.
Furthermore, Lochridge stated that he followed up with OSHA via email eight months after he was fired from OceanGate in 2018 to reiterate that he was “extremely concerned” about the Titan’s safety. He said he felt “deeply let down” that his warnings were not immediately investigated.
Lochridge said his responsibility was to ensure the safety of all crew, clients and training pilots but that he felt more “like a show pony” because no one else was qualified as a pilot.
Additionally, during the first day of a two-week hearing by the Marine Board of Investigation into the Titan submersible tragedy, it was revealed that the vessel sent a final message just six seconds before losing contact with the surface. The submersible, which was diving to the Titanic wreckage, lost communication with its mother ship, the Polar Prince on June 18, roughly 90 minutes into its descent.
A lawsuit filed by the family of one of the victims claims that this last message could suggest the crew had realized something was wrong and were attempting to abort the mission before the disaster unfolded.
Stockton Rush, the founder and CEO of the vessel’s operator; businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood; businessman Hamish Harding; and French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet were all killed.
(With agency inputs)
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