The catastrophic deep-sea implosion of OceanGate’s Titan submersible was “a preventable tragedy” that resulted from repeated failures by the company and its late CEO to follow established safety, testing and maintenance protocols, the U.S. Coast Guard concluded in a damning report released Tuesday.
The 335-page final report by the Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) cites multiple instances of intentional disregard for human safety by the company amid efforts to promote “a false sense of safety and security” by OceanGate CEO Richard Stockton Rush III, who was piloting the vessel during a planned 2023 tour of the Titanic’s wreckage.
French submariner Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, and passengers Hamish Harding, 58, Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Suleman Dawood, 19, were among those killed when the submersible’s carbon fiber hull imploded under approximately 4,930 pounds per square inch of water pressure.
“This marine casualty and the loss of five lives was preventable,” Jason Neubauer, Titan MBI chair, said with the report’s release. “The two-year investigation has identified multiple contributing factors that led to this tragedy, providing valuable lessons learned to prevent a future occurrence.“
