The security failures revealed by the report on the Titan tragedy, the submersible that implored in the ocean with 5 people aboard

- Author, Writing
- Author's title, BBC News World
15 minutes

Two years after the catastrophic implosion of the submersible Titan, which caused death to its five occupants while heading to the remains of the Titanic, the US Coast Guard presented its report on its investigation of the case.

The document indicates as the main causal factor of the implosion the “breach of the engineering protocols established in the field of safety, evidence and maintenance of its submersible”.

He adds that he identified failures in corporate governance and deficiencies in professional culture in the company and in regulatory supervision.

They found at least 8 problems that resulted in the implosion of the submersible of the private firm Oceangate occurred in June 2023:

The Oceangate design and test processes for the submersible did not address the “fundamental principles of engineering” necessary for an “intrinsically dangerous environment.”
Oceangate did not perform an analysis to understand the planned life cycle of the submersible.
The company depended excessively on a real -time monitoring system of the submersible status and did not analyze the data significantly.
Oceangate continued to use the Titan, despite a series of incidents that committed the submersible, without properly evaluating the situation.
The manufacture of the submersible with carbon fiber caused defects that weakened its structural integrity.
Oceangate did not carry out detailed investigations after having suffered incidents.
The company had a “toxic work environment” in which it threatened to say goodbye to employees in an attempt to deter them from expressing their security concerns.
Oceangate did not carry out preventive maintenance of the submersible helmet while it was not used before his unfortunate expedition of 2023.

The submersible implused 90 minutes after having started its descent towards the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean where the Titanic remains are.

The five people on board were the executive director of Oceangate, Stockton Rush, who was piloting the submarine; the French expert at the Titanic Paul-Henri “pH” Nargeolet, who served as a co-pilot; and three passengers who had paid for immersion: British explorer Hamish Harding, the British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.

Photo foot, The 5 deceased were: (left to right, above) Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding; (Below) Paul-Henry Nargeolet and Stockton Rush.

Instant death

According to the US Coast Guard, in the years before the incident, Oceangate “used intimidating tactics, permits for scientific operations and the good reputation of the company to avoid regulatory scrutiny,” adds the report.

“When strategically create and exploit regulatory ambiguity and supervision problems, Oceangate finally managed to operate the titan completely outside the protocols established for the marine depths,” says the report.

He also warns that Oceangate executive director Stockton Rush would have ignored vital data in the days before the incident due to lack of controls.

“The lack of supervision by third parties and employees with experience in Oceangate during Titan's operations in 2023 allowed the executive director of Oceangate to completely ignore vital inspections, data analysis and preventive maintenance procedures, which culminated in a catastrophic event,” says the analysis of the US Coast Guard.

The day of the tragedy, the implosion was caused by the loss of structural integrity of the carbon fiber helmet of the submersible, which caused the “snapshot” death of all those who were on board, as the investigation has determined.

“This loss of structural integrity caused the sudden and catastrophic implosion of the helmet,” says the report.

People on board were “exposed to a water pressure of approximately 4,930 pounds per square inch (346.61 kgf/cm²), which caused the instant death of the five occupants.”

The catastrophic implosion

The Titan submarine began its immersion to the Titanic, which lies at 3,800 m deep in the Atlantic Ocean, on the morning of June 18, 2023.

But at 90 minutes from his descent, just 500 m from reaching the remains of the transatlantic, Oceangate's submersible suffered a catastrophic failure.

The 5 passengers died instantly: the implosion was so fast that no one had time to realize what was happening.

Shortly after a huge search and rescue operation was launched, with airplanes, ships and submarine robots tracking the Atlantic Ocean. But on June 22 the Titan remains were found.

The underwater images published at that time by the United States Coast Guard showed the submarine made pieces and scattered by the bottom of the sea.