10 July 2023 , 12:37
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The Titan managed to reach the depth of the Titanic wreck in only about 14% of its dives prior to the tragedy, a waiver passengers had to sign has shown.
OceanGate's Titan submersible, which claimed the lives of five people when it was destroyed in an implosion during an expedition to the Titanic wreck on June 18,
of its construction multiple times since.
In a latest report, it has been revealed that of the 90 attempts to reach the depth of the Titanic wreck, the Titan only managed to succeed 13 times, which adds up to a success rate of about 14%.
The detail is written in a waiver passengers had to sign prior to boarding the craft for the pricey expedition, which could cost as much as $100,0000.
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The Titan only managed to reach the depth of the Titanic wreck 14% of the times (AP)Specifically, passengers are required to acknowledge and sign the below statement, which is part of a four-page waiver seen by the Insider.
"A portion of the Expedition will be conducted inside an experimental submersible vessel that will dive 3,800 meters to the shipwreck of the Titanic.
"The experimental submersible vessel has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body and is constructed of materials that have not been widely used for manned submersibles.
Titan submersible passengers (L-R, top to bottom) Hamish Harding, CEO Stockton Rush, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood (Dirty Dozen Productions/OceanGat)"As of the date of this Release, the experimental submersible vessel has conducted fewer than 90 dives, and 13 of those dives reached the depth of the Titanic.
"Prior to my participation in the Expedition there have been as few as 13 dives to Titanic depths in the submersible."
Former director of marine operations at OceanGate, David Lochridge, claimed that there was a lack of non-destructive testing performed on the Titan's hull. When he raised concerns about this issue in 2018, he was fired.
OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush (AP)The Marine Technology Society, in a letter to OceanGate, also warned about the company's experimental designs and refusal to follow industry-accepted safety protocols, indicating the potential for catastrophic consequences.
Mr Lochridge's claims are detailed in a lawsuit he filed in 2018 after his termination from the company. “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 wrote in an email to expedition leader and dive master Rob McCallum.
(AP)Deep-sea expert Rob McCallum raised concerns about the Titan's system relying on Bluetooth for controls, highlighting that hardwired controls are the industry standard for safety in case the signal drops out.
“Every sub in the world has hardwired controls for a reason — that if the signal drops out, you’re not f***ed,” he said.
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Rob also advised Mr Rush to have the Titan marine-certified, which he refused to do, disregarding classification agencies' support for his other projects.