‘People were sold a lie': Oceangate whistleblower warned of Titan risks before 2023 implosion; was aware ‘there would be an incident'
David Lochridge, a former employee of Oceangate, has reiterated longstanding safety concerns following the release of a US Coast Guard report that identifies significant failures by the company as the primary cause of the 2023 Titan submersible disaster.
"I always hoped that what happened wouldn't happen. But I just knew if they kept carrying on the way they were going and with that deficient equipment, then there would be an incident," Lochridge was quoted as saying by the BBC.
"There is so much that could have been done differently. From the initial design, to the build, to the operations - people were sold a lie," he said.
OceanGate was developing a new submersible designed to take paying passengers to the site of the Titanic wreck.
However, in June 2023, the vessel tragically imploded during a dive, killing all five people on board, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.
The whistleblower was dismissed by OceanGate in 2018 after raising concerns about safety issues related to the submersible. He had joined the company seven years prior as its director of Marine Operations.
"As the director of marine operations, I'm the one responsible for everybody," he said, reported the BBC.
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"I was responsible for the safety of all Oceangate personnel and all of the passengers that were going to be coming in the sub."
As chief pilot, his duties involved planning dives and personally operating the submersible, taking passengers 3,800 meters below the surface to view the Titanic. Ensuring safety was a central part of his role.
The submersible that would later be named Titan was initially developed in collaboration with the University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), with plans to construct its passenger hull with carbon fibre, a material that is not used for deep-diving subs, which typically rely on titanium or steel.
Despite initially trusting the expertise of the APL team, Lochridge's confidence began to wane by mid-2016 as OceanGate ended its partnership with APL and moved the design and construction of Titan in-house.
"At that point, I started asking questions… and I felt I had a duty of care to keep asking them," said Lochridge. "When the carbon hull came in, it was an absolute mess,' he added, noting visible flaws in the material.
Lochridge was called to a meeting with Rush and other Oceangate employees after he submitted a report listing out the issues he was seeing.
"I have no desire to die. I've got a nice granddaughter. I'm going to be around. I understand this kind of risk, and I'm going into it with eyes open, and I think this is one of the safest things I will ever do,' Rush said in the meeting in response to Lochridge raising safety concerns, reports the BBC.
Lochridge contacted the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which deemed his case urgent due to public safety risks and placed him under its whistleblower protection program. OSHA forwarded concerns to the US Coast Guard in February 2018.
By July 2018, OceanGate sued Lochridge and his wife, alleging breach of contract and other claims. He responded with a countersuit for unfair dismissal. But by December 2018, they decided to drop the case.
OceanGate pressed ahead with its plans to reach the Titanic at full speed.
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