Titan submarine implosion hearing: Key employee who branded sub 'unsafe' to testify
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Coast Guard officials are continuing to uncover why the Titan submersible imploded, as the second day of the highly anticipated hearing kicks off.
The experimental Titan submersible imploded as it was heading down to the ruins of the Titanic, killing all five people on board, including OceanGate founder Stockton Rush, in June 2023.
Ten former OceanGate employees will give testimony in the hearing in North Charleston, South Carolina, which is probing whether any criminal activity led to the tragedy tragedy.
Witnesses scheduled to testify on Monday include David Lochridge, an employee who had branded the submersible 'unsafe' prior to its last voyage.
The former operations director will testify a day after witnesses painted a picture of a troubled company that was impatient to get its unconventionally designed craft into the water. The accident set off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration.
Scheduled to appear later in the hearing are OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein and former scientific director, Steven Ross.
Follow DailyMail.com's live coverage of day two below.
Lochridge begins testifying
At the start of the hearing Lochridge laid out his work history, telling officials that he had been a navy diver before earning his qualifications in underwater inspection offshore, and as a commercial diver.
Lochridge told the hearing that he then became involved in submarine rescue in 2001, with his wife seeing an advert for OceanGate in 2015.
He said the company and him ‘seemed like a good fit’ after spending two weeks with the company in May of that year where he was informed of the plan to visit the wreckage of the Titanic.
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage
DailyMail.com will be providing live updates today as the second day of the OceanGate Titan submersible hearing continues.
Key witness David Lochridge is to testify before Coast Guard officials, Lochridge had previously branded the submersible that imploded ‘unsafe’.
He wrote in a 2018 report that the craft needed more testing and passengers may be endangered when it reached ‘extreme depths’.
Follow our coverage as we bring you the latest news from the hearing in South Carolina.