WASHINGTON, D.C. (Kashmir English): Flawed engineering and inadequate testing led to the catastrophic implosion of a private submersible during a 2023 expedition to the Titanic wreckage, the US National Transportation Safety Board has observed.
The report comes after a US Coast Guard investigation in August outlined a list of issues with operator OceanGate’s conduct, as well as design flaws in its Titan submersible.
The flaws led to a “preventable tragedy” in which all five passengers were killed.
“We found that OceanGate’s engineering process for the Titan was inadequate and resulted in the construction of a carbon fiber composite pressure vessel that contained multiple anomalies and failed to meet necessary strength and durability requirements,” NTSB said in its report.
“Because OceanGate did not adequately test the Titan, the company was unaware of the pressure vessel’s actual strength and durability, which was likely much lower than their target.
“Additionally, OceanGate’s analysis of Titan pressure vessel real-time monitoring data was flawed, so the company was unaware that the Titan was damaged and needed to be immediately removed from service”, after a previous dive, it added.
OceanGate chief executive Stockton Rush was joined on the doomed expedition by Pakistani-British tycoon Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, British explorer Hamish Harding, and French deep-sea explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet. Seats on the submersible cost $250,000 per person.
The SUV-sized submersible lost communications about an hour and 45 minutes into its dive on June 18, 2023, triggering a dramatic search that briefly captivated the world.
Titanic
Debris was, however, found a few days later on the ocean floor, about 500 meters from the bow of the Titanic, and human remains were recovered when the sub was brought to the surface.
