Ex-employees of Titanic submersible’s owner to testify before Coast Guard panel

PORTLAND, Maine — Former employees of the company that owned an experimental submarine that imploded en route to the wreck of the Titanic will testify before a Coast Guard board of inquiry at an upcoming hearing.

The Titan submarine imploded in the North Atlantic Ocean in June 2023, killing all five people on board and sparking a global debate over the future of private undersea exploration. The U.S. Coast Guard quickly called a high-level research into what happened, and that investigation is expected to reach the public hearing on September 16.

OceanGate, the Washington state company that owned the Titan submarine, suspended activities after the implosion who killed co-founder Stockton Rush and the others. Witnesses scheduled to appear at the upcoming hearing include Guillermo Sohnlein, another co-founder of OceanGate, and the company’s former chief engineering, operations and scientific director, according to documents provided by the Coast Guard.

The public hearing “is intended to reveal the facts surrounding the incident and develop recommendations to prevent similar tragedies in the future,” the Coast Guard said in a statement Friday. The ongoing Marine Board of Investigation is the highest level of maritime accident investigation conducted by the Coast Guard and is “charged with investigating the causes of the maritime accident and making recommendations to improve maritime safety,” the statement said.

The hearing will be held in Charleston, South Carolina, and is expected to last two weeks. The board is expected to issue a report with evidence, conclusions and recommendations once the investigation is complete.

OceanGate’s former chief administrative officer, former chief financial officer and other witnesses who worked for the company are also expected to testify. The witness list also includes numerous Coast Guard officials, scientists, government and industry officials and others.

The Titan became the subject of research in the subsea exploration community partly because of its unconventional design and the maker’s decision to forgo standard independent checks. The implosion killed Rush and the veteran Titanic explorer Paul Henri Nargeolet; two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood; and British adventurer Hamish Harding.

Titan made its last dive on June 18, 2023, losing contact with its support ship about two hours later. When it was reported too late, rescue workers rushed in ships, planes and other equipment to an area approximately 700 kilometres south of St. John’s, Newfoundland.

The search for the submarine drew worldwide attention as it became increasingly unlikely that anyone had survived the ship’s loss. Wreckage from the Titan was subsequently found on the seabed about 300 meters (330 yards) from the Titanic’s bow, Coast Guard officials said.

The time frame for the investigation into the submarine’s loss was initially set to last a year, but the investigation has taken longer. The Coast Guard said in a July 2024 statement that the public hearing “will examine all aspects of the loss of the Titan, including historical events leading up to the accident, regulatory compliance, crewmember duties and qualifications, mechanical and structural systems, emergency response, and the submarine industry.”

The Titan has been making trips to the Titanic wreck site since 2021. The company would not comment on the Coast Guard investigation.