Latest news with #TheTitan
Boston Globe
5 days ago
- Boston Globe
Titan submersible report says implosion was preventable and CEO ignored safety risks
Advertisement Jason Neubauer with the Marine Board of Investigation said the findings will help avoid future tragedies. 'There is a need for stronger oversight and clear options for operators who are exploring new concepts outside of the existing regulatory framework,' he said in a statement. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up OceanGate suspended operations in July 2023. A spokesperson for OceanGate, Christian Hammond, said the company has been wound down and was fully cooperating with the investigation, and offered condolences to the families of those who died and everyone affected. Investigators pointed to OceanGate's culture of downplaying, ignoring, and even falsifying key safety information to improve its reputation and evade scrutiny from regulators. The company ignored 'red flags' and had a 'toxic workplace culture,' where firings of senior staff and the looming threat of being fired were used to dissuade employees and contractors from expressing safety concerns. Advertisement Rush, a former flight test engineer for fighter jets, founded the company in 2009 after years of experience in aerospace and aviation. The Marine Board concluded that Rush had an 'escalating disregard for established safety protocols,' which contributed to the deaths of four people. If Rush were alive, the board would have passed the case to the US Department of Justice and he may have faced criminal charges, the board said. The company reclassified submersible passengers as 'mission specialists' to bypass regulations on small passenger vessels and claim its subs were oceanic research vessels. Former mission specialists and OceanGate employees said their participation was 'purely for a ride in the submersible, not for scientific research,' the report said. Rush and OceanGate received numerous warnings about Titan's fraudulent classifications. In 2017, Rush was told by a Coast Guard Reserve officer hired by OceanGate that his planned Titanic dive would be illegal. Rush said 'he would buy a congressman' if ever confronted by regulators, the officer testified. Over the years, the company resorted to increasingly deceptive strategies, the report said. By 2021, an OceanGate attorney falsely informed a federal court in Virginia — which was presiding over The Titan's authorization to conduct dives — that the vessel was registered in the Bahamas, even though it wasn't. To obtain his credentials, Rush submitted a fraudulent sea service letter signed by OceanGate's chief operations officer to the Coast Guard's National Maritime Center, the report said. In the letter, Rush claimed past service as a crew member on Titan and misrepresented the size of the vessel, when in fact it had never been registered or admeasured. Advertisement Investigators found the submersible's design, certification, maintenance, and inspection process were all inadequate. The vessel's carbon fiber hull design and construction introduced flaws that 'weakened the overall structural integrity' of its hull, the report stated. Mounting financial pressures in 2023 led to a decision by OceanGate to store the Titan submersible outdoors over the Canadian winter, where its hull was exposed to temperature fluctuations that compromised the integrity of the vessel, the report said. The implosion also killed French underwater explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, known as 'Mr. Titanic,' British adventurer Hamish Harding, and two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood. Nargeolet's family filed a $50 million lawsuit last year that said the crew experienced 'terror and mental anguish' before the disaster. The lawsuit accused OceanGate of gross negligence. Titan had been making voyages to the Titanic site since 2021. The Titan's final dive came on the morning of June 18, 2023. The submersible lost contact with its support vessel about two hours later, and was reported overdue that afternoon. Ships, planes and equipment were rushed to the scene about 435 miles south of St. John's, Newfoundland. The Coast Guard-led team operated under the possibility there could be survivors for several days. Wreckage would subsequently be found on the ocean floor about 330 yards off the bow of the Titanic.
Irish Daily Mirror
6 days ago
- General
- Irish Daily Mirror
Major report slams Titanic sub disaster owners over submersible implosion
A report by the US Coast guard has slammed the owners of the OceanGate over the Titan submersible implosion. The report found OceanGate failed to follow established engineering protocols that put people on board at serious risk. The US Coast Guard said OceanGate "leveraged intimidation tactics" in order to avoid regulatory scrutiny. All five people on board died instantly after the submersible was subjected to intense water pressure. 14:41 Anders Anglesey The Marine Board of Investigation report said the US Coastguard was not to blame for the implosion. It said there were "no acts of misconduct, incompetence, negligence, unskillfulness, or violations of law" by the coastguard. 14:31 Anders Anglesey The report said had CEO Rush survived, investigators would have called for the Department of Justice to consider pursuing a criminal investigation into him. 14:25 Anders Anglesey A former OceanGate staff member told investigators the company was "economically" very stressed. They said: "The company was economically very stressed and as a result, [they] were making decisions that compromised safety" 14:15 Anders Anglesey The US Coastguard report slammed nearly every aspect of OceanGate and how it was run. It said the primary factor was the failure of the company to follow "established engineering protocols." The sub had been known to be unreliable under pressure and its layers were known to come apart. (Image: OceanGate Expeditions/AFP via Ge) 14:11 Anders Anglesey The Titan sub began its dive to reach the Titanic on June 18, 2023. 90 minutes into the decent to reach the wreckage (at 12,467ft), the sub experienced a catasrophic failure. It was 500 metres away from reaching the Titanic. Everyone was killed instantly. The sub was later found completely crushed. 14:00 Anders Anglesey Five people died on board the Titan sub during its dive to reach the wreckage of the Titanic. Those who died were: OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, 61 British adventurer Hamish Hardin, 58, British businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48 His son Suleman Dawood, 19 Ex-French Navy diver Paul-Henry Nargeolet 13:57 Anders Anglesey The US Coastguard report said CEO Stockton Rusk ignored inspections amid a culture of a lack of oversight. The report said: "The lack of both third-party oversight and experienced OceanGate employees on staff during their 2023 Titan operations allowed OceanGate's Chief Executive Officer to completely ignore vital inspections, data analyses, and preventative maintenance procedures, culminating in a catastrophic event." CEO of OceanGate Stockton Rush was onboard the Titan when it imploded (Image: BBC ) 13:55 Anders Anglesey OceanGate had a "toxic environment" where staff were fired in order to dissuade them from sharing safety concerns. 13:51 Anders Anglesey The US Coastguard report identified several causes for the implosion. OceanGate's "critically flawed" safety practices The Titan being misrepresented as indestructible Senior leadership for allowing a culture of customer expectations being prioritised over other responsibilities A lack of oversight 13:49 KEY EVENT The "negligence" of OceanGate CEO and the pilot of the Titan submersible Stockton Rush contributed to deaths on board, the report said. An investigation found "evidence of a potentially criminal offence" and Rush "may have been subject to criminal liability." Stockton Rusk was one of the five people on board who died (Image: AP) 13:39 KEY EVENT A report into the Titan implosion has found company OceanGate had "critically flawed" safety practices.
Telegraph
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
The 30 best films on Netflix to watch now
It's a brave soul who would play pot luck with Netflix's film selection: you could easily wind up with a particularly tatty Netflix Original Movie and rue the day you subscribed. Watch out for The Titan, starring Sam Worthington as a genetically-modified ex-Marine who becomes an alabaster superhuman, or Tyler Perry's turgidly worthy war drama The Six Triple Eight, which could send whole battalions to the Land of Nod. Luckily, I've set about sorting the wheat from the chaff. Of course, Netflix will never be the place for fans of say, 1940s screwball comedy, or the work of Akira Kurosawa. The oldest Hollywood film currently on the service, which I've included, is The Sting (1973) – and there's very little else before the late 1980s. The algorithm is a mystery. There are films that land at number one for a week or two, and then are never heard of again. Finding the keepers on here takes a bit of digging around, then, but they do exist – at least, for as long as the service gives them legs. Whether a film is worth a second spin, or a sixth, was probably the biggest factor in choosing what made the cut. After all, the best film dates on Netflix are almost never first-time views or punts on something shiny and new. They're more likely to be catch-ups with trusty old friends. Skip to: Drama Pig (2021)
Daily Mirror
29-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mirror
The surprising everyday item that survived the OceanGate sub implosion
The Titan suffered a catastrophic implosion in June 2023, which killed all five of the passengers on board - but a few suprising items survived the horrorific incident While sifting through the remains of the ill-fated OceanGate Titan submersible the US Coast Guard recovered a surprising item that was still intact. The Titan submersible, a carbon fiber and titanium vessel The Titan sub offered people a chance to glimpse the Titanic's legendary resting place since 2021. But beneath its futuristic promise lay growing concerns over the vessel's unconventional design and safety features. The Titan suffered a catastrophic implosion in June 2023, which killed all five of the passengers on board. Those inside the sub at the time were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, 61, British businessman Hamish Harding, 58, former French navy diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Suleman, 19. It is reported that in one moment, those onboard the Polar Prince actually heard the Titan implode - unknowingly. The wife of CEO Stockton Rush, Wendy Rush, was filmed asking innocently, "What was that bang?" In the days following the disappearance, an international search and rescue mission captured global attention. A faint banging noise detected by sonar had sparked hope, with families clinging to the possibility the crew was still alive. But that hope soon faded. The wreckage was found just 330 yards from the Titanic's bow, confirming that the Titan had imploded and there were no survivors. Once recovered and drained of water officials were then able to take a closer look at the remains which included carbon fiber, fiberglass, electronic parts - only to discover a still intact sleeve of Stockton Rush's suit. In the video, posted to TikTok by Discovery, a member of the US Coast Guard broke down the process of sorting through the remains. Investigators recovered various items, including a pen, business cards, Titanic-themed stickers, clothing remnants and human remains. The recovered artifacts have been cataloged by the Coast Guard's Marine Board of Investigation. The survival of any item in such conditions was unexpected, but the ink pen's intact state stunned investigators. A Coast Guard official said: "Each one of those pieces, even the pen, was still intact. It hadn't been broken. All of this debris, all of these things shattered but his pen was still intact," reports MailOnline. They added: "We were all just kind of getting all-hands-in and separating what needed to be considered as human remains and what was just other wreckage pieces. As we were pulling it apart that is how we realized it was Mr. Rush's clothing. It was a piece of his sleeve that survived, not the whole suit, just that. Inside of the sleeve of it was the ink pen, business cards and stickers for the Titanic and there was nothing else but that." The MBI continues to examine recovered debris.
Hindustan Times
27-05-2025
- Climate
- Hindustan Times
Who is Ed Buckner, Little Rock meteorologist who passed away after battle with cancer?
Former THV11 Chief Meteorologist Ed Buckner passed away at the age of 59, after a battle with cancer. Buckner was a popular face in the Arkansas weather coverage circle for decades and has been a trusted source of weather predictions and analysis for Arkansans during severe weather events. Some of his monumental weather coverage includes the infamous 1999 tornado outbreak. ALSO READ| Who is Yaqeen Hammad? Gaza's 'youngest influencer' reportedly killed by Israeli airstrike Buckner was a part of popular channel THV11 for nearly 25 years, and his colleagues admired his commitment and dedication towards work, apart from being a great mentor and a kind-hearted friend. Buckner was also a musician and had even released a children-friendly weather album. 'Ed was such a sharp, polite gentleman and so talented in so many ways. He left us too soon,' KATV Chief Meteorologist Barry Brandt was quoted as saying after news of Buckner's death reached the office. ALSO READ | New footage emerges from The Titan's expedition to Titanic wreckage, implosion heard 'Ed was so kind. He gave me my first start in TV — back in 2004. THV had a summer Kidcaster campaign and I was selected to do weather one evening that summer. It was an incredible experience that shaped me at just 10 years old, and it put me on a path to a TV career in this market 15 years later,' KATV Meteorologist James Bryan said. 'So sad to hear the news of Ed Buckner's passing. Although we were local television competitors, it was always a friendly competition between us. I am only wishing his family peace at this difficult time,' Chief Meteorologist Ned Perme was quoted as saying, according to a KATV report. Bucker is currently survived by his wife, four children, and seven grandchildren.
