One Year Later, Answers Still Sought in Oceangate Sub Disaster

It seems longer, but one year ago, the world was riveted to the search for the Titan submersible from Everett's Oceangate Industries that went missing while heading to the Titanic wreckage site.

   A year later, answers still sought

According to reports, the US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation still has not completely finished its report into the implosion that killed five people on board the tiny sub.

NPR is reporting the board was tasked with finding out what likely went wrong with the sub, when on June 18th, 2023, it went missing about 900 miles off Cape Cod off the East Coast, it lost contact with its support ship on the surface.  The sub had begun its 2.5-mile drop into the Titanic wreckage field. According to NPR those on board who died were:

" OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who was piloting the vessel; Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood; British businessman Hamish Harding; and French deep-sea explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet."

The search was called off on June 22nd, and then the Navy revealed it had likely picked up an explosion sound on sensors hours before the sub was reported missing. The exact depth of the implosion has not been revealed, but claims of defects in the Titan's construction led to a massive, loud, and sudden crushing or implosion of the hull. This would have resulted in a massive spread of debris, only it was a reverse-explosion.

According to NPR:

“The investigation into the implosion of the Titan submersible is a complex and ongoing effort,” MBI Chair Jason Neubauer said in a statement. “We are working closely with our domestic and international partners to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the incident.”

 "A number of its previous missions had been scrapped or were otherwise unsuccessful: The submersible reached the depth of the Titanic wreckage on just 13 of its 90 dives since it started in 2021, according to the company’s passenger waiver.

Former passengers and industry experts (as well as social media onlookers) have criticized OceanGate for everything from making the submersible’s hull out of carbon fiber to using a video-game controller to steer it."

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It will remain up to the Coast Guard to determine, as much as possible, what happened exactly to the sub, what led up to the disaster, and the other unanswered questions about the tragedy.

To this day, Oceangate's Everett facility remains closed, with padlocked gates.