Oceangate titan aftonbladet

In the years following the disaster, however, details about the submersible's handling have captured national attention.

A series of hearings held by the Coast Guard last year brought many pieces of evidence and testimony to light, from claims that Titan was being navigated using an altered gaming controller to testimony about warnings OceanGate was reportedly given about the quality and safety of the submersible before its final descent.

Public consensus thus far has primarily placed blame on the experimental design of the craft, which was ultimately unable to withstand the extreme pressures of its deep-sea dive.

Had he survived, the Coast Guard's investigative team would have recommended manslaughter charges to the DOJ, the report said.

"This marine casualty and the loss of five lives was preventable," Jason Neubauer, Titan MBI chair, said in a statement about the report's release. Dawood is survived by a wife and daughter.

Shahzada Dawood's son, Suleman Dawood, 19, was a business student at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow and had planned to join his father in working for Engro after graduating from college.

Newly released footage captured moment of implosion

In the wake of the Coast Gaurd hearings, a lawsuit filed by the family of one of the victims and the release of two documentaries, the BBC's "Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster" and Netflix's "Titan: The OceanGate Disaster," additional, sometimes sordid details, have emerged in the two years since the accident.

Recently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S.

Coast Guard released a 23-second-long clip in February that reportedly captured the moment of implosion. They died instantaneously.

The tragedy was "preventable", it said.

Investigators found “critically flawed” safety practices at the sub's owner OceanGate Expeditions, and said it used "intimidation tactics" for several years before the disaster to avoid scrutiny.

Much of the blame goes to the Chief Executive Stockton Rush, the US Coast Guard said.

But "no report can alter the heart-breaking outcome," the family of two of the victims said. Many who spoke up were threatened with lawsuits or termination, it said.

"A false sense of safety and security was created by Mr. Rush through his misrepresentation of the TITAN's safety, achieved by falsely claiming substantial safety margins, misleading mission specialists regarding testing procedures, and exaggerating the number of hull test dives for the final TITAN hull," the report said.

Rush, the co-founder of OceanGate, was among those killed in the June 2023 implosion.

Officials called the static, followed by a boom and then silence, the "suspected acoustic signature" of the implosion.

The sounds were recorded by a monitor moored approximately 900 miles from the Titan’s implosion site, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Additional footage provided to the Coast Guard by OceanGate showed the moment from the perspective of the submersible's tracking and communications team, which included Wendy Rush, CEO Stockton Rush's wife.

The NTSB determined that the hull's strain response changed after this loud bang incident in subsequent dives, an agency official testified.

In 2023, the Titan partially sank four weeks before the implosion following a night of high seas and fog, according to the Coast Guard. After the tragedy occurred, the company permanently wound down operations and directed its resources fully towards cooperating with the Coast Guard's inquiry through its completion."

Cause of submersible implosion

The report singles out OceanGate's "inadequate design, certification, maintenance and inspection process for the Titan," as was often highlighted during the board hearing last year.

The submersible imploded due to "loss of structural integrity of the Titan pressure vessel," the report found.

Causes that led to the fatal implosion were inadequate design and testing process, no meaningful analysis of the carbon fiber hull material, over-reliance on OceanGate's real-time monitoring system to assess the hull's condition and continuous use of the Titan -- even after a series of incidents that compromised its integrity -- the report found.

From the early years and up until the implosion, investigators found that Rush ignored, concealed and neglected to address serious safety and structural concerns on nearly every part of his company and its submersibles.

That investigation is ongoing. There is a need for stronger oversight and clear options for operators who are exploring new concepts outside of the existing regulatory framework."

Neubauer added that he is "optimistic" that the report's findings and recommendations "will help improve awareness of the risks and the importance of proper oversight while still providing a pathway for innovation."

In addition to Rush, those killed in the implosion included French explorer and Titanic expert Paul Henri Nargeolet, British businessman Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman.

The submersible company suspended all exploration and commercial operations after the deadly implosion.

In response to the report, OceanGate said in a statement, "We again offer our deepest condolences to the families of those who died on June 18, 2023, and to all those impacted by the tragedy.

Five people were aboard the submersible: OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, French maritime and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and a father and son from one of Pakistan’s most prominent families, Shahzada Dawood and Suleman Dawood.

The submersible imploded about 1 hour and 45 minutes after its trip began, resulting in the deaths of its five passengers.

The U.S.

Coast Guard is continuing to investigate what caused the implosion.

Contributing: Phaedra Trethan, USA TODAY

Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. In another dive that year, a loud bang was heard as the Titan ascended. "The two-year investigation has identified multiple contributing factors that led to this tragedy, providing valuable lessons learned to prevent a future occurrence.

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