The ongoing search for the Titan in the North Atlantic has continued for several days since the submersible disappeared en route to the Titanic wreckage site, which lies over two miles below the ocean's surface. Titan, operated by OceanGate Expeditions based in Washington state, had five people on board, including paying passengers and crew members. Among the passengers on the 21-foot-long private submersible are British explorer Hamish Harding and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, accompanied by his son Suleman.
The U.S. Coast Guard is leading the search for the missing Titan submarine, which disappeared about 900 miles east of Cape Cod and approximately 400 miles southeast of Canada's Newfoundland coast. Contact with the sub was lost around one hour and 45 minutes into its dive, and with a limited oxygen supply on board, there was a race against time to locate the sub and rescue the individuals on board in this remote and challenging area. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the two professional crew members on the submersible were Stockton Rush, OceanGate's CEO and founder, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French veteran of deep-sea exploration who is familiar with the Titanic wreckage.
The Titan is currently the subject of a massive search in the North Atlantic, having gone missing during a dive to the Titanic wreckage with five individuals on board. According to Lochridge's complaint, filed in 2018 by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, he had previously expressed concerns about the safety protocols of the Titan to OceanGate. He advised the company to conduct more testing on the vessel's hull, disagreeing with his employer's approach to testing the submersible's safety. Lochridge also objected to OceanGate's decision to perform dives without utilizing "non-destructive testing to prove its integrity."
Brief History of How the Complaints on Titanic Submersible Started
The maker of the missing Titanic Submersible, OceanGate, faced complaints in 2018 from a former employee regarding the safety of the vessel's hull. This information was revealed through court documents. In response to the employee's concerns, OceanGate fired David Lochridge in the same year. However, the company took legal action against Lochridge, claiming that he had breached his employment contract by disclosing confidential information to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) when he filed a whistleblower complaint. Lochridge, in his defence against OceanGate's lawsuit, filed a court response in 2018 asserting that his termination had been wrongful. He argued that his actions aimed to ensure passengers' safety on the submersible, known as the Titan.
