A former OceanGate employee has claimed he shared concerns of potential safety problems of the Titan submersible, but his warnings were ignored.

On June 18, 2023, Titan, a submersible operated by OceanGate, imploded killing five passengers on board.

The family of one of the victims filed a wrongful death lawsuit and on Monday (September 16, 2024), and a hearing began in North Charleston, South Carolina, as part of a two-week inquiry by the US Coast Guard into what caused the implosion of the sub.

During the hearing, US Coast Guard investigators heard from OceanGate’s former operations director David Lochridge.

Lochridge was made OceanGate marine operations director in January 2016 and was in charge of making sure all training pilots, crew and clients were safe.

However, he said during the hearing yesterday he was ultimately ‘the only qualified submersible pilot to fly the assets’ the company had and the ‘only one with experience in new-build submersibles,’ Sky News reports.

Lochridge branded the whole company as being all about making ‘money’ instead of prioritising ‘science’, saying it was ‘inevitable’ something would go wrong eventually.

He alleged OceanGate’s former engineering director Tony Nissen and chief executive officer Stockton Rush were ‘arrogant’ in thinking they could carry out all of Titan’s engineering in-house and that they were ‘very impatient’.

Lochridge said he was ‘very vocal’ about not having any ‘confidence whatsoever’ in the company’s building of Titan and ‘a lot of steps along the way’ being ‘missed’.

But he claimed his concerns were dismissed and that he was deliberately ‘kept away’ from the project.

The hearing looking into why the sub imploded began on Monday (David Ryder/Getty Images)

In his inspection of the first Titan’s hull, Lochridge identified ‘imperfections’, noting ‘glue runs everywhere’ which are ‘a red flag’.

He added that he was ‘appalled’ with the type of seal used, called the ‘O-ring’.

Lochridge alleged he wasn’t invited to meetings, but when he did sit down with Rush, he claimed the CEO exhibited ‘a total disregard for safety’.

Lochridge was later fired from the company in January 2018 and branded Titan an ‘experimental submersible’.

He said he was ‘very concerned’ about taking passengers onboard who were unfamiliar with such vehicles.

He called the sub ‘dangerous’ and said he ‘didn’t want anybody going down’ in it, contacting the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on February 6, 2023 leading him to be placed under its whistleblower protection scheme.

However, Lochridge accuses the agency of having done ‘nothing’ and so in November 2018 he dropped his claim as a result of the backlash he faced from OceanGate and the strain it was placing on his family.

Lochridge resolved he feels ‘deeply let down and disappointed’ by OSHA.

“If it had attempted to investigate, this tragedy may have been prevented,” he concluded.

A spokesperson for the OSHA told UNILAD: “Mr. David Lochridge filed a whistleblower claim of retaliation under the Seaman’s Protection Act (SPA) on February 6, 2018. OSHA promptly referred his safety allegations regarding the Titan submersible to the Coast Guard, per policy, on February 26, 2018.

“The Coast Guard, not OSHA, had jurisdiction to investigate Mr. Lochridge’s allegations regarding the safe design and construction of marine vessels. OSHA’s jurisdiction under the SPA is limited to investigating a whistleblower’s claims of employment retaliation for making those complaints (or similar protected activity). OSHA opened an investigation in Mr. Lochridge’s retaliation allegations, which included interviewing Mr. Lochridge and obtaining relevant documents and a position statement from Ocean Gate Inc. The investigation followed the normal process and timeline for a retaliation case.

“Mr. Lochridge and Ocean Gate Inc. entered an independent settlement agreement on December 13, 2018, at which time OSHA terminated its investigation pursuant to the terms of the parties’ agreement. Our understanding is that Mr. Lochridge was represented by counsel in his settlement negotiations. We were informed of the settlement after the fact.”

UNILAD has contacted OceanGate for comment.

Titan sub inquiry – everything we know from the investigation so far

A public hearing into the five deaths of the people onboard OceanGate’s ill-fated Titan submersible began on Monday (16 September).

It is expected to last two weeks.

Titan was ‘unregistered, non-certificated and unclassed’

The first day of the hearing (16 September) heard how the submersible was built in 2020 and was ‘unregistered, non-certificated and unclassed’, as well as having no identification number.

The submersible’s hull was never subject to third-party checks and officials said it was left exposed to the elements while in storage for seven months in 2022 and 2023.

Parts of Titan ‘bonded together using an adhesive’

In 2017, the year OceanGate announced it would be conducting trips to the Titanic, employees bonded together the submersible’s carbon fibre hull and titanium rings ‘using an adhesive’.

Titan found ‘partially sunk’ month before tragedy

During its 2023 expedition, the Titan was found ‘partially sunk’ in the ocean.

Image released of Titan debris on sea floor

An image showing debris, including the Titan’s tail cone, on the sea floor after the implosion was revealed.

(US Coast Guard)

Titan lost contact with support ship

Those onboard the Titan were communicating with support staff on the Polar Prince ship by text messages.

After a number of exchanges, Titan crew lost contact with Polar Prince as it descended.

One of last texts from submersible revealed

One of Titan’s final responses was revealed to be: “All good here.”

Titan ‘struck by lightning’

Tony Nissen, OceanGate Expeditions’ former engineering director, testified that the Titan was hit by lightning during a test mission in 2018.

Nissen, who was allegedly fired in 2019 after not letting the submersible go to the Titanic, told OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush it was ‘not working like we thought it would’.

When asked to pilot the submersible, Nissen said: “I’m not getting in it.”

Titan engineer ‘felt pressure to get submersible ready for wreck dive’

When asked if there was pressure to get the Titan into the water, Nissen replied: “100%.”

Waivers

While Bonnie Carl, OceanGate’s former human resources and finance director, said she was aware of a waiver people had to sign, she testified she ‘never saw anyone sign anything’.

“When I was taking money, we hadn’t even finished building the Titan,” Carl claimed.

‘No red flags’ on day Titan went missing

Former OceanGate contractor Tym Catterson said: “There were no red flags… it was a good day.”

The hearing continues.

Officials discovered a surprising item from OceanGate’s Titan submersible while sifting through the remains of what was left from the tragedy.

Back in June 2023, OceanGate’s Titan submersible dominated headlines after the once-in-a-lifetime voyage to the darkest depths of the Atlantic Ocean turned to disaster.

The 21-foot sub and the five explorers onboard were planning on visiting the Titanic wreckage, some 12,500 feet below surface, off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. However, just one hour and 45 minutes into its descent and the US coast guard lost all contact with the crew and passengers.

The authorities confirmed the Titan was destroyed by a ‘catastrophic implosion’ due to intense water pressure and failed materials.

All passengers onboard were instantly killed.

The Titan submersible imploded in June 2023 (US Coast Guard)

The victims were later identified as OceanGate’s CEO Stockton Rush, 61, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, a deep-sea explorer from France, Hamish Harding, 58, a British businessman, Shahzada Dawood, 48, a Pakistani-British businessman and his 19-year-old son, Suleman.

Amid an upcoming Netflix documentary detailing the tragedy, a recently released video from Discovery’s own doc on the Titan revealed how the US Coast Guard recovered the submersible and the personal items they found in tact.

Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster, which aired on the Discovery Channel on Wednesday (May 28), showed how officials discovered a pen belonging to OceanGate CEO Rush fully intact.

They also found business cards, Titanic-themed stickers, and clothing. Human remains were later discovered, which helped officials confirm the passing of all five passengers.

Last week, chilling footage capturing the sound of the explosion was released as part of the Discovery doc.

Wendy Rush, the OceanGate CEO’s wife, could be seen monitoring the vessel’s descent when she heard an external noise that caused much worry.

While Wendy waited nervously to see what had happened, she asked with a nervous smile: “What was that bang?”

Tragically, that was the sound of her husband’s vessel imploding with him inside of it.

But just moments after that, Wendy received a message from the sub giving her the assumption everything was going to be alright.

Wendy Rush asks her colleagues ‘what was that bang’? (Discovery)

In the documentary, a narrator explains: “She mistakenly seems to think everything is OK, but in fact it’s taken longer for the message to arrive than the sound of the implosion. Everyone onboard is dead.”

On June 19 2023, the US Coast Guard launched a large-scale search and rescue operation when the vessel failed to resurface or make contact almost 24 hours on.

Two days on from the Titan’s disappearance on June 21, sonar crews taking part in the search picked up ‘banging noises’, giving false hope that the passengers are still alive.

In reality, they died instantly after the vessel imploded.

OceanGate’s former scientific director has testified that the Titan submersible malfunctioned only days before it descended into the ocean.

On September 16, the US Coast Guard commenced a hearing to investigate the fatal implosion of the sub that occurred last year and deduce if there is anyone to blame for the wreckage.

OceanGate Expedition’s 21-foot submersible named Titan descended into the North Atlantic on June 18, 2023 for a tour of the Titanic‘s wreckage site.

The tragic incident occurred in June 2023 (US Coast Guard)

Around an hour and 45 minutes into its descent, contact with the Titan and its five passengers onboard was lost however.

After a hefty search mission, the US Coast Guard confirmed that the Titan was destroyed by a ‘catastrophic implosion’.

All five people onboard – British billionaire Hamish Harding, father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, OceanGate’s CEO Stockton Rush, and Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet – passed away.

Now, former OceanGate scientific director Steven Ross testified to the US Coast Guard during the hearing that the sub malfunctioned days before its fatal descent.

He explained that they experienced a platform malfunction that caused all five people onboard to slam into the aft of the submersible for at least an hour.

An issue with the variable ballast tank, which controls the submersible’s buoyancy, led to the platform inverting to 45 degrees with the back bow facing upwards.

The malfunction reportedly took place on June 12, six days before the fatal dive.

“The pilot crashed into the rear bulkhead, the rest of the passengers tumbled about, I ended up standing on the rear bulkhead, one passenger was hanging upside down, the other two managed to wedge themselves into the bow endcap,” Ross explained before adding that no one was injured.

The malfunction took place six days before the dive. (US Coast Guard/Pelagic Research Services)

“It was uncomfortable and unpleasant and it took considerable time to correct the problem,” Ross added.

He also claimed that he knew the Titan submersible was not inspected by the US Coast Guard in 2021, 2022, or 2023.

Titan sub inquiry – everything we know from the investigation so far

A public hearing into the five deaths of the people onboard OceanGate’s ill-fated Titan submersible began on Monday (16 September).

It is expected to last two weeks.

Titan was ‘unregistered, non-certificated and unclassed’

The first day of the hearing (16 September) heard how the submersible was built in 2020 and was ‘unregistered, non-certificated and unclassed’, as well as having no identification number.

The submersible’s hull was never subject to third-party checks and officials said it was left exposed to the elements while in storage for seven months in 2022 and 2023.

Parts of Titan ‘bonded together using an adhesive’

In 2017, the year OceanGate announced it would be conducting trips to the Titanic, employees bonded together the submersible’s carbon fibre hull and titanium rings ‘using an adhesive’.

Titan found ‘partially sunk’ month before tragedy

During its 2023 expedition, the Titan was found ‘partially sunk’ in the ocean.

Image released of Titan debris on sea floor

An image showing debris, including the Titan’s tail cone, on the sea floor after the implosion was revealed.

Titan lost contact with support ship

Those onboard the Titan were communicating with support staff on the Polar Prince ship by text messages.

After a number of exchanges, Titan crew lost contact with Polar Prince as it descended.

One of the last texts from submersible revealed

One of Titan’s final responses was revealed to be: “All good here.”

Titan ‘struck by lightning’

Tony Nissen, OceanGate Expeditions’ former engineering director, testified that the Titan was hit by lightning during a test mission in 2018.

Nissen, who was allegedly fired in 2019 after not letting the submersible go to the Titanic, told OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush it was ‘not working like we thought it would’.

When asked to pilot the submersible, Nissen said: “I’m not getting in it.”

Titan engineer ‘felt pressure to get submersible ready for wreck dive’

When asked if there was pressure to get the Titan into the water, Nissen replied: “100%.”

Waivers

While Bonnie Carl, OceanGate’s former human resources and finance director, said she was aware of a waiver people had to sign, she testified she ‘never saw anyone sign anything’.

“When I was taking money, we hadn’t even finished building the Titan,” Carl claimed.

‘No red flags’ on day Titan went missing

Former OceanGate contractor Tym Catterson said: “There were no red flags… it was a good day.”

Footage of Titan wreckage released by US Coast Guard

New, unseen footage of the Titan sub has been released to the public by the US Coast Guard, with the camera panning around to see the tail cone of the sub on the ocean floor.

Whistleblower says implosion was ‘inevitable’

Former employee of OceanGate David Lochridge gave evidence on Tuesday (17 September) and revealed how he warned of potential safety problems with the vessel as far back as 2018, which he says were ignored.

Lochridge, who was fired from the company in 2018, told investigators that it was ‘inevitable’ something would eventually go wrong, and when asked if he had any confidence in the way Titan was being built, he stated: “No confidence whatsoever, and I was very vocal about that, and still am.”

“A lot of steps along the way were missed,” Lochridge added. “I knew that hull would fail. It’s an absolute mess.”

He also criticized the ‘arrogance’ within the company, along with the ‘control freak’ tendencies of Stockton Rush.

The Titan submersible disaster may have happened a year and a half ago, but we’re still learning new things about what exactly happened.

The sub, which was on an expedition to the wreckage of the Titanic, imploded due to the immense pressure of the water on June 18, 2023.

Oceangate CEO Stockton Rush, British businessman Hamish Harding, aged 58, and 77-year-old former French navy diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet lost their lives.

19-year-old Suleman Dawood and his dad, Shahzada, a 48-year-old British-Pakistani businessman, were also on the sub and died from the explosion.

In a new development to the disaster, the US Coast Guard has released audio footage that is believed to capture the final moments of the doomed sub.

Recorded by a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration device, the audio is certainly disturbing.

Footage of the wreckage has since been released (US Coast Guard/Pelagic Research Services)

The ‘suspected acoustic signature’, as officials are calling it, reveals an incredibly loud bang followed by a large rumble.

The tragic incident sent shockwaves across the world in 2023, though it did not surprise Karl Stanley, a close friend of Rush.

Stanley went on a trip in Titan back in 2019, and he certainly had some concerns.

During an interview with 60 Minutes Australia, Stanley was asked if Rush had a ‘death wish’, to which he replied: “The only question is, ‘When?’ He was risking his life and his customers’ lives to go down in history. He’s more famous now than anything else he would’ve done.

“He quite literally and figuratively went out with the biggest bang in human history that you could go out with, and who was the last person to murder two billionaires at once, and have them pay for the privilege?”

The disaster sent shockwaves across the world (PA)

When asked what he believed caused the implosion, Stanley said: “There’s no doubt in my mind that it was the carbon fiber tube that was the mechanical part that failed.”

During his trip with Rush on the sub off the coast of the Bahamas, Stanley spoke claimed he heard ‘loud, gunshot-like noises … every three to four minutes’.

Stanley said he reached out to the OceanGate CEO in a series of calls and emails following the trip to voice his concerns.

There is an area of the hull that is breaking down. It will only get worse,” he wrote to Rush in 2019.

Stanley added: “I literally painted a picture of his wrecked sub at the bottom [of the ocean] and even that wasn’t enough.”