Mission specialist for Titan submersible owner to give evidence

A mission specialist for the company which owned the Titan submersible that imploded in 2023 is scheduled to testify before the US Coast Guard on Thursday.

Renata Rojas is the latest person to testify who is connected to Titan owner OceanGate after an investigatory panel has listened to two days of testimony that raised questions about the company’s operations before the doomed mission.

British adventurer Hamish Harding and father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood died alongside OceanGate Expeditions’ chief executive Stockton Rush and Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

Mr Dawood was a London-based businessman and adviser to the King’s charity Prince’s Trust International, with a focus on its work in Pakistan. His 19-year-old son was a student at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

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 on Monday and some of the testimony has focused on the troubled nature of the company.

Also expected to testify on Thursday is former OceanGate scientific director Steven Ross.

During the hearing, former OceanGate operations director David Lochridge said he frequently clashed with Mr Rush and felt the company was committed only to making money.

“The whole idea behind the company was to make money,” Mr Lochridge testified. “There was very little in the way of science.”

Mr Lochridge and other witnesses have painted a picture of a company led by people who were impatient to get the unconventionally designed craft into the water.

Coast Guard officials noted at the start of the hearing that the submersible had not been independently reviewed, as is standard practice. That and Titan’s unusual design subjected it to scrutiny in the undersea exploration community.

OceanGate, based in Washington state, suspended its operations after the implosion. The company has no full-time employees, but has been 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 sent repeated messages asking if the Titan could still see the ship on its onboard display.

One of the last messages from Titan’s crew to Polar Prince before the submersible imploded stated “all good here”, according to a visual recreation presented earlier in the hearing.

When the submersible was reported missing, rescuers rushed ships, planes and other equipment to an area about 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland.

Four days later, wreckage of the Titan was found on the ocean floor about 300 metres off the bow of the Titanic, Coast Guard officials said.

OceanGate said it has been fully co-operating with the Coast Guard and NTSB investigations since they began.

The Titan had been making voyages to the Titanic wreckage site since 2021.