A far-reaching investigation into how the Titan submersible imploded deep in the ocean last year will move into a new stage this week, potentially providing crucial fresh details about the catastrophe that killed all five people on board.
Exactly what led to the destruction of the submersible in June 2023, as it was taking passengers on a tour to the Titanic shipwreck, has been the subject of an inquiry by the Coast Guard for more than a year. But much of that work has taken place out of view from the public, with few new disclosures about what went wrong.
On Monday, the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation will hold its first public hearings on the disaster. The proceedings will begin in the morning with an overview of the investigation and an animation depicting what investigators have learned about the implosion.
The board will then begin calling the first of two dozen witnesses who will testify over the next two weeks. Among them are former employees of OceanGate, the underwater exploration company that operated the submersible, and safety and marine experts who have insight into what caused the fatal event. The board is also likely to discuss evidence it has already gathered, including details about the Titan’s design and the company’s safety guidelines.
The biggest question for investigators is what caused the Titan to implode, an answer that is crucial to preventing any future accidents. They will specifically try to determine if there were flaws in the design of the submersible or the materials it was built with.
The chief executive of OceanGate, Stockton Rush, who died in the implosion, was warned years earlier by submersible and ocean experts that his methods were still experimental and could have devastating results.
Since the accident, experts have noted several design decisions that may have saved the company money but meant that the submersible differed from others that had proved safe. Among them were the pill-like shape of the Titan’s hull — a sphere has been the industry standard — and the use of carbon fiber rather than titanium for the hull.
At a news conference on Sunday, Jason Neubauer, a retired Coast Guard captain who is the chairman of the board investigating the Titan, said his team had been working for 15 months to understand what had happened. He said that the hearing on Monday, in North Charleston, S.C., would be crucial for investigators to learn more about the accident and to outline their findings so far.
“These proceedings are not just a formality,” he said. “They are a critical step in our missions to understand the contributing factors that led to the incident, and, even more important, the actions needed to prevent a similar occurrence.”
Captain Neubauer said the investigation was one of the most complex he had ever participated in, in part because the implosion took place far out in the Atlantic Ocean, making it more difficult to gather the physical remnants of the destroyed craft.
Responding to a reporter’s question, he said that any potential evidence of criminal negligence would be passed on to the U.S. Justice Department.
The Titan submersible disappeared on June 18, 2023, when it lost communication with its support ship after dropping into the water about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. On board were Mr. Rush; Shahzada Dawood, a British Pakistani businessman; Mr. Dawood’s 19-year-old son, Suleman; Hamish Harding, a British aviation tycoon and explorer; and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French maritime expert and leading authority on the Titanic who had visited the wreckage dozens of times before.
Mr. Nargeolet’s family filed a lawsuit against OceanGate last month, saying that the company’s chief executive had misled Mr. Nargeolet about the craft’s safety. OceanGate suspended commercial and exploratory operations in the wake of the accident.
Four days after the submersible vanished, wreckage from the craft was found about a third of a mile from the front end of the Titanic. Months later, divers found human remains among debris from the submersible.
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