Titan submersible malfunctioned days prior to the fatal dive, former scientific director testifies
A former OceanGate scientific director said the Titan submersible suffered a malfunction six days before imploding in June 2023, killing all five people on board.
Steven Ross, a marine scientist and crew member of Dive 87 on the Titan’s fourth mission in 2023, testified at a hearing Thursday on the vessel’s tragic implosion that a platform malfunction during that dive caused all five people onboard to slam to the aft of the submersible for at least an hour.
The dive was aborted because, upon resurfacing, a platform malfunction caused by an issue with the variable ballast tank, which controlled the submersible’s buoyancy, caused the platform to invert to 45 degrees with the back bow facing upward.
The dive, piloted by Stockton Rush, the founder and CEO of the vessel’s operator, took place on June 12 about 460 miles from the Titanic site.
“The pilot crashed into the rear bulkhead, the rest of the passengers tumbled about, I ended up standing on the rear bulkhead, one passenger was hanging upside down, the other two managed to wedge themselves into the bow endcap,” Ross said, adding that no one was injured.
Rush had indicated to the passengers there was a problem with the variable ballast tank valve, Ross said. Because the platform malfunction took considerable time to correct, the dive was aborted and they returned to the surface to fix the issue.
“It was uncomfortable and unpleasant and it took considerable time to correct the problem,” Ross said, adding he was unaware if the crew held a post-dive inspection of the hull.
He said he knew the Titan submersible had not been inspected by the United States Coast Guard in 2021, 2022 or 2023.
Ross also mentioned two incidents during the 2022 Titanic expedition dives, including a loud bang heard while surfacing in Dive 80.
“There was a discussion about the bang with the crew, mission specialists and the scientists. The theory of the sound was that there was likely a shifting of the pressure hull in its metal cradle that when it popped back into place it could’ve made that loud noise,” Ross said.
On Dive 81, Ross said there was a malfunction of the thrusters. The pilot, Scott Griffith, discovered the controls for one of the thrusters were reversed when they were at the bottom. Griffith had to operate the thrusters with the reversed controls.
Before the Titan’s fourth mission for the 2023 Titanic expedition, Ross said he was told the submersible “snagged an obstruction while being towed at night” and it was assumed to have been caused by abandoned fishing gear, “but that was not conclusive” and he was not made aware of any damage caused by the obstruction.
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