A key employee of the business that owned the experimental submersible that exploded en route to the Titanic ruins rebuffed a Coast Guard investigator’s question about whether OceanGate felt a sense of “desperation” to complete the dives due to the expensive cost.
Amber Bay, head of administration for the firm that owned the deadly Titan submarine, emphasized on Tuesday that the company would not “conduct risky dives just to meet a need.”
However, she agreed that the corporation wanted to deliver for individuals who paid $250,000 and were urged to work as “mission specialists.”
“There definitely was an urgency to deliver on what we had offered and a dedication and perseverance towards that goal,” she told the Coast Guard’s panel.
OceanGate Employee Pushes Back Against Idea Of ‘Desperation’ To Complete Missions
Stockton Rush, the co-founder of OceanGate, was one among five persons killed when the submersible imploded in June 2023.
The Coast Guard held a public hearing earlier this month as part of a high-level investigation into the causes of the implosion. Some of the testimony focused on the company’s troubles.
On Tuesday, Bay disputed previous evidence from Antonella Wilby, a former OceanGate contractor who claimed Bay told her “you don’t seem to have an explorer mindset” after she voiced safety concerns. Bay stated that Wilby’s concerns were taken into consideration and treated with respect at the time. Bay clarified that her own responsibilities did not include engineering or operations.
She later burst into tears while recounting the tragedy, which was personal because she knew the victims.
“I had the privilege of knowing the explorers whose lives were lost,” Bay stated through tears. “And there’s not a day that passes that I don’t think of them, their families and the loss.”
Earlier in the hearings, former OceanGate operations director David Lochridge stated that he frequently battled with Rush and believed the corporation was solely focused on making money. “The whole idea behind the company was to make money,” Lochridge stated. “There was very little in the way of science.”
Lochridge and other earlier witnesses described a corporation that was eager to get its unconventionally designed vessel into the sea. The catastrophe sparked a global discussion over the future of private undersea exploration.
Karl Stanley, a submersible pilot and designer of the Roatan Institute of Deepsea Exploration, testified on Tuesday to provide insight into deep-sea submersible operations and safety. He claimed that “billionaires courting scientists” have disrupted the industry’s economy.
Stanley also believed OceanGate’s characterization of paid passengers as “mission specialists” was an attempt to dodge accountability.
Furthermore, the company’s “entire business plan made zero sense,” Stanley stated. He also stated that he believed the implosion was caused by Rush’s drive to leave his mark in history.
“There was nothing unexpected about it. “Everyone with a little bit of information expected this,” Stanley explained.
The session is anticipated to last until Friday and will feature numerous additional witnesses, some of whom were closely tied to the company.
Guillermo Sohnlein, a businessman who co-founded OceanGate with Rush, said during evidence Monday that he believed the accident would spark a renewed interest in exploration, especially the world’s deepest waters.
“This cannot be the end of deep-sea exploration. This cannot be the end of deep-diving submersibles, and I don’t think it will be,” he said.
At the opening of the hearing, Coast Guard officials stated that the submersible had not been independently reviewed, which is typical protocol. That, together with Titan’s unconventional design, drew scrutiny from the submarine exploration community.
OceanGate Employee Pushes Back Against Idea Of ‘Desperation’ To Complete Missions
OceanGate, situated in Washington state, halted operations following the implosion. The company currently has no full-time employees, although it was represented by an attorney at the hearing.
During the submersible’s final dive on June 18, 2023, the crew lost touch after exchanging SMS about Titan’s depth and weight while plummeting. The support ship Polar Prince then sent Titan several communications enquiring if he could still see the ship on its onboard display.
When the submersible became overdue, rescuers dispatched ships, planes, and other equipment to a location around 435 miles (700 km) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. The Titanic’s wreckage was later discovered on the ocean floor about 330 yards (300 meters) off the bow, according to Coast Guard officers. Nobody on board survived.
OceanGate stated that it has been fully participating with the Coast Guard and NTSB investigations since they began. Titan had been making excursions to the Titanic crash site since 2021.
SOURCE | AP
