‘All good here’ – these are the last words heard from the crew of the Titan submersible that imploded killing all five people on board.
A hearing about the deaths of those on the doomed submersible has opened today in Charleston, South Carolina, and is expected to last two weeks.
British adventurer Hamish Harding and father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood were killed on board in June 2023, alongside French national Paul-Henri Nargeolet and OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush.
It was on an expedition to the Titanic wreckage around 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland, when it lost contact with the tour operator.
At the hearing, the US coast guard presented a visual re-creation of the journey of the Titan before it imploded.
According to this presentation, the crew communicated with support staff aboard the Polar Prince by text messages.
But they lost contact after repeated inquiries from the Polar Prince about the submersible’s depth and weight as it descended.
The Polar Prince sent repeated messages asking if the Titan could still see the ship on its onboard display.
One of Titan’s final responses, which became spotty as it descended, was ‘all good here’.
Coast guard officials also said the Titan hull was never subject to third-party checks.
It was also heard how the sub was left exposed to weather and elements while in storage for seven months in 2022 and 2023.
The aim of the hearing is to ‘uncover the facts surrounding the incident and develop recommendations to prevent similar tragedies in the future’, the coast guard said in a statement earlier this month.
Recommendations going forward will be submitted to the coast guard’s commandant following this hearing.
Jason Neubauer from the coast guard who led the hearing said: ‘There are no words to ease the loss endured by the families impacted by this tragic incident.
‘But we hope that this hearing will help shed light on the cause of the tragedy and prevent anything like this from happening again.’
OceanGate said in a statement: ‘There are no words to ease the loss endured by the families impacted by this devastating incident, but we hope that this hearing will help shed light on the cause of the tragedy.’
The rest of the hearing is expected to delve into ‘all aspects of the loss of the Titan’, including both mechanical as well as compliance with regulations and crew member qualifications.
It will hear from over 24 witnesses over the entirety of the hearing which is expected to last two weeks.
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