Doomed Titan sub seen on seafloor over 13,000ft underwater in haunting new video
New video of the doomed sub that killed five Titanic tourists has been released showing the wreckage more than 3700m down on the seafloor.
by Christopher Bucktin · Irish MirrorNew video of the doomed sub that killed five Titanic tourists including three Brits has been released, showing the wreckage more than 3,700m (12,000ft) down on the seafloor.
The US Coast Guard described the footage as showing "the aft dome, aft ring, remnants of the hull and carbon fibre debris." It also shows the port hole from which the men would have viewed the ill-fated liner. The video was released as the public hearing into the 2023 tragedy in the States.
A mission specialist for the company that owned the Titan submersible that imploded is scheduled to testify today. Renata Rojas is the latest person to testify connected to Titan owner OceanGate after an investigatory panel listened to two days of testimony that raised questions about the company's operations before the doomed mission.
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OceanGate co-founder Stockton Rush was among five people who died when the submersible imploded en route to the site of the Titanic wreck in June 2023. Earlier this month, the Coast Guard opened a public hearing that is part of a high-level investigation into the cause of the implosion.
The public hearing began this week, and some testimony focused on the company's troubled practices. During the hearing, former OceanGate operations director David Lochridge said he frequently clashed with Rush and felt the company was committed only to making money.
"The whole idea behind the company was to make money," Lochridge testified. "There was very little in the way of science." Former OceanGate scientific director Steven Ross is also expected to testify today. The hearing is expected to run through Friday, with more witnesses to come.
Lochridge and other witnesses painted a picture of a company led by people who were impatient in getting the unconventionally designed sub into the water. The deadly accident set off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration.
Coast Guard officials noted at the start of the hearing that the submersible had yet to be independently reviewed, as is standard practice. Titan's unusual design also subjected it to scrutiny in the undersea exploration community. OceanGate, based in Washington state, suspended operations after the implosion. The company currently has no full-time employees but was represented by an attorney during the hearing.
During the submersible's final dive on June 18, 2023, the crew lost contact after an exchange of texts about the Titan's depth and weight as it descended. The support ship Polar Prince then sent repeated messages asking if the Titan could still see the ship on its onboard display.
According to a visual recreation presented earlier in the hearing, one of Titan's crew's last messages to Polar Prince before the submersible imploded was, "All good here." When the submersible was reported missing, rescuers rushed ships, planes and other equipment to an area about 435 miles (700 kilometres) south of St. John's, Newfoundland.
Four days later, Coast Guard officials said that the wreckage of the Titan was subsequently found on the ocean floor about 330 yards (300 meters) off the bow of the Titanic. No one on board survived. OceanGate said it has fully cooperated with the Coast Guard and NTSB investigations since they began. The Titan had been making voyages to the Titanic wreckage site going back to 2021.
Among those killed was Stockton Rush, co-founder of OceanGate. Based in Washington state, the company suspended its operations after the implosion. The other killed were Titanic explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, father and son British-Pakistani Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood; and British adventurer Hamish Harding.
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