Titan submersible wreckage brought ashore after fatal implosion
A former OceanGate Expeditions employee voiced his safety concerns about the Titan submersible in an ominous email he sent to an ex-associate of the company, it has emerged.
“I don’t want to be seen as a tattle tale but I’m so worried he kills himself and others in the quest to boost his ego,” David Lochridge, who was employed by the company from 2015 to 2018, wrote in the message, referring to CEO Stockton Rush.
Mr Lochridge later claimed that he was wrongfully fired for flagging concerns about the company’s alleged “refusal to conduct critical, non-destructive testing of the experimental design”.
Mr Rush then asked Mr Lochridge to conduct a “quality inspection” report on the vessel. During this process, he “identified numerous issues that posed serious safety concerns” but was allegedly “met with hostility and denial of access” to necessary documents before being dimissed.
A promotional video on OceanGate’s YouTube channel posted weeks before the implosion has since re-emerged advertising the $250,000-a-ticket trip as extremely safe.
“OceanGate offers the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a specially trained crew member safely diving to the Titanic wreckage site,” a narrator states.
“Get ready for what Jules Verne could only imagine... a journey to the bottom of the sea.”
