Published 12:28 18 Sep 2024 GMT+1

OceanGate's former operations director David Lochridge claims 'a lot of steps' were 'missed' while making the Titan sub

A former OceanGate employee has claimed he shared concerns of potential safety problems of the Titan submersible, but his warnings were ignored.

On June 18, 2023, Titan, a submersible operated by OceanGate, imploded killing five passengers on board.

The family of one of the victims filed a wrongful death lawsuit and on Monday (September 16, 2024), and a hearing began in North Charleston, South Carolina, as part of a two-week inquiry by the US Coast Guard into what caused the implosion of the sub.

During the hearing, US Coast Guard investigators heard from OceanGate's former operations director David Lochridge.

Lochridge was made OceanGate marine operations director in January 2016 and was in charge of making sure all training pilots, crew and clients were safe.

However, he said during the hearing yesterday he was ultimately 'the only qualified submersible pilot to fly the assets' the company had and the 'only one with experience in new-build submersibles,' Sky News reports.

Lochridge branded the whole company as being all about making 'money' instead of prioritising 'science', saying it was 'inevitable' something would go wrong eventually.

He alleged OceanGate's former engineering director Tony Nissen and chief executive officer Stockton Rush were 'arrogant' in thinking they could carry out all of Titan's engineering...

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