Titanic Sub Company Was Sued Over Safety Concerns
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OceanGate Expeditions, the company that owns the submarine that went missing while traveling to see the Titanic wreckage, was previously sued over safety concerns related to that specific vessel, the Titan.
In 2018, an employee of OceanGate and pilot of the company’s submersibles David Lochridge, filed a lawsuit alleging that the Titan needed additional testing to travel to such deep depths.
“David Lochridge disagreed with OceanGate’s position to dive the submersible without any non-destructive testing to prove its integrity, and to subject passengers to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible,” the lawsuit said. “Defendants admit that David Lochridge again expressed concerns at the January 19, 2018 meeting regarding the quality control and safety of the Titan, particularly OceanGate’s refusal to conduct critical, non-destructive testing of the experimental design of the hull.”
The reports of the lawsuit come shortly after the Titan submersible went missing on Monday as it was traveling in the Atlantic Ocean to see the wreckage of the Titanic.
“For some time, we have been unable to establish communications with one of our submersible exploration vehicles which is currently visiting the wreck site of the Titanic,” the company said in a statement to Newsweek. “We are deeply grateful for the urgent and extensive assistance we are receiving from multiple government agencies and deep-sea companies as we seek to reestablish contact with the submersible. We pray for the safe return of the crew and passengers, and we will provide updates as they are available.”
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The lawsuit filed by Lochridge alleged that there were “visible” flaws with the Titan vessel and presented a danger to passengers when traveling to such deep depths. The lawsuit also alleged that the passengers who pay around $250,000 for tickets to see the Titanic wreckage, would be unaware of some of the flaws Lochridge brought up.
According to the lawsuit, OceanGate did not look into the concerns brought up by Lochridge and instead fired him.
The lawsuit from 2018 was eventually settled outside of court, according to documents reviewed by Newsweek. Newsweek reached out to OceanGate Expeditions via email for comment on the lawsuit.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Coast Guard said that they were searching a 10,000-square-mile area for the submersible, which lost contact with OceanGate Expeditions on Monday. According to the Associated Press, OceanGate Expeditions adviser David Concannon said that the submersible had around 96 hours’ worth of oxygen.
The missing submersible prompted conspiracy theories online, including one saying orcas were involved that one expert debunked, saying the claim only hurts the orca as a species, and another other saying perhaps a social media post about the weather was a clue from one of the passengers, but weather reports don’t seem to back that up, either.
What is still possible, others say, is the chance that the craft is stuck or hung up on underwater debris, experienced a power failure, and even implosion.
Most vessels would implode at the depths of the Titanic shipwreck, according to Eric Fusil, a submarine expert and associate professor at the University of Adelaide.
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