Titan sub disaster was preventable, US finds in scathing report

• OceanGate's safety culture and practices deemed critically flawed.
• Report highlights inadequate design, certification, and maintenance.
• Coast Guard calls for stronger oversight of novel vessel operations.

WASHINGTON: The catastrophic implosion of the Titan submersible that killed five people in 2023 could have been prevented, a US Coast Guard investigative board found on Tuesday, calling the vessel’s safety culture and operational practices “critically flawed.”

The Titan vanished during a descent to the Titanic wreck on a tourist expedition, losing contact with its support ship.

After a tense four-day search, its shattered remains were discovered strewn across the seabed 1,600 feet (488 metres) from the bow of the legendary ocean liner that sank in 1912, claiming more than 1,500 lives.

OceanGate, the US-based company that managed the tourist submersible, suspended all operations after the incident.

A company spokesperson said on Tuesday the company again offered its deepest condolences to the families of those who died "and directed its resources fully towards cooperating with the Coast Guard’s inquiry through its completion."

The chair of the US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation, Jason Neubauer, said the accident was preventable.

"There is a need for stronger oversight and clear options for operators who are exploring new concepts outside of the existing regulatory framework," he said in a statement with the release of the 300-page report.

Chloe Nargeolet, whose father, French oceanographer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, died on the submersible, said she was satisfied with the investigation.

"The OceanGate boss didn’t do his job properly and obviously my father didn’t know any of that," she said. "It was not random or bad luck, it came from something. It could have been avoided.”

The board determined that the primary contributing factors were OceanGate’s "inadequate design, certification, maintenance and inspection process for the Titan."

It also cited "a toxic workplace culture at OceanGate," an inadequate regulatory framework for submersibles and other novel vessels, and an ineffective whistleblower process.

The report added "for several years preceding the incident, OceanGate leveraged intimidation tactics, allowances for scientific operations, and the company’s favourable reputation to evade regulatory scrutiny."

The board found that OceanGate failed to investigate and address known hull anomalies following its 2022 Titanic expedition. It said data from Titan’s realtime monitoring system should have been analyzed and acted on during that expedition.

It also criticised OceanGate for failing to properly store the Titan before the 2023 Titanic expedition.

The report faulted the absence of a timely Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation into a 2018 OceanGate whistleblower’s complaint combined with a lack of government cooperation, calling them a missed opportunity and added "early intervention may have resulted in OceanGate pursuing regulatory compliance or abandoning their plans."