Becky Kagan Schott / Ocean Gate / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
US Coast Guard investigators found that a “toxic workplace culture” contributed in part to OceanGate’s Titan submersible disaster that left five people dead, including the deep-sea exploration company’s CEO.
The findings by the Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation were laid out in a 335-page report released on Tuesday, more than two years after the June 18, 2023 incident.
Investigators said in the report that the implosion of the submersible during an expedition to the Titanic wreck site in the depths of the North Atlantic Ocean was “preventable.”
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush — the creator behind the Titan — and four other passengers were killed in the catastrophe that set off a dayslong international search by land, air, and sea.
The Coast Guard board determined that the primary contributing factors to the disaster were OceanGate’s inadequate design, certification, maintenance, and inspection process for the Titan submersible.
Other factors that contributed to the tragedy included a “toxic workplace culture” at OceanGate, an inadequate domestic and international regulatory framework for submersible operations and vessels of novel design, as well as an ineffective whistleblower process, the Coast Guard board said in its report.
“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,” an OceanGate spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement. “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.”
This story is developing and will be updated.
The post OceanGate’s ‘toxic workplace culture’ was bad enough to contribute to the Titan submersible disaster, Coast Guard says appeared first on Business Insider.
