Titan crew says ‘everything is fine’ before submarine explodes

One of the last messages from the five-man crew of the submarine Titan before it exploded, killing everyone inside, was “everything is fine”, a hearing has revealed.

US Coast Guard investigators said the message was one of the last communications between the Titan and its mothership before contact was lost completely.

The hearing also showed for the first time images taken by a remotely operated vehicle of Titan’s tail tip lying on the seafloor after the explosion.

The deep-sea ship sank to the Titanic’s wreckage less than two hours before exploding in June 2023.

Coast Guard officials began a two-week investigation on Monday, aiming to clarify the facts of the incident and make recommendations to prevent similar tragedies.

Investigators have reconstructed the journey, including text messages between Titan and the mothership Polar Prince.

Titan began diving at 09:17 local time and the support team on the mothership asked about the depth and weight of the submarine, as well as whether they could see the vessel on the onboard display.

Communication was poor, but after about an hour of diving, Titan sent a message saying “everything is fine”.

Its last message was sent at 10:47 local time, at a depth of 3,346m, to say it had dropped two payloads. Contact was then lost.

Officials gave an overview of Titan’s history, noting that the hull had never been tested by a third party and had been exposed to weather and other elements while in storage.

They also pointed out serious problems the submarine encountered during expeditions conducted before the disaster. In 2021 and 2022, during 13 dives to the Titanic, the submarine encountered 118 equipment failures.

These incidents included the forward canopy falling off as the ship was being lifted out of the sea, the ship’s thrusters failing at a depth of 3,500m and during one dive the ship’s batteries running out, trapping passengers inside for 27 hours.

OceanGate, the ship’s manufacturer, has previously faced questions about its design choices, safety record and regulatory compliance.

Tony Nissen, the company’s former chief technical officer, said the evidence he saw was “disturbing… both professionally and personally”.

Mr. Nissen asserted that Stockton Rush, the late CEO of OceanGate, who was on board the Titan, had the final say on most technical decisions and was difficult to work with.

“Stockton will fight for what he wants and even if it changes day by day, he will not give in one bit,” he said.

“Most people would eventually retreat to Stockton, which was death by a thousand cuts.”

OceanGate has suspended all exploration and commercial activities following the incident.

The company said it currently has no full-time employees but will have legal representation during the investigation.

Monday marks the beginning of the first public phase of the 15-month investigation.

Unanswered questions about Titan’s failed dive have sparked a long-running debate about the safety and regulation of private underwater exploration.

The Coast Guard’s Marine Division of Investigation (MBI) is expected to hear testimony from 10 former OceanGate employees, including co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein and experts in maritime safety and underwater exploration.

The MBI chairman said Sunday that it is the highest level of investigation available into U.S. Marine casualties and convenes about one hearing a year.

“Of the thousands of investigations that have been conducted, not one has reached this level,” said Jason Neubauer.

“We hope this hearing will help shed light on the causes of the tragedy and prevent similar incidents from happening again.”

The Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have the authority to recommend civil penalties or refer for criminal prosecution to the U.S. Department of Justice.

A search mission involving four governments took place after the submarine lost contact with its mothership Polar Prince on the morning of June 18, 2023, and never resurfaced.

In addition to Rush, on board were British explorer Hamish Harding, veteran French diver Paul Henri Nargeolet, British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman.