Complaint by former employee reveals OceanGate's intention to train submersible pilot in one day

OceanGate founder Stockton Rush was involved in a 2016 incident involving a submersible that collided with a sunken vessel. The information was shared on the second day of a hearing hosted by the U.S. Coast Guard into the Titan, the company's submersible that imploded in June 2023 during an expedition to the wreck of the Titanic , resulting in the deaths of five people.

During the hearing on Tuesday (17), David Lochridge, then responsible for the company's marine operations, said that, in the 2016 incident, the then CEO of OceanGate, Stockton Rush, ignored safety warnings and piloted the Cyclops 1 submersible recklessly, resulting in the collision with the wreckage of the Andrea Doria vessel, which sank off the coast of Massachusetts.

During the incident, Rush panicked and questioned whether there was enough life support on board and how soon a dive team could arrive, while passengers watched the situation. Lochridge tried to calm him down and asked him to hand over the controls. However, Rush refused to hand them over and in a fit of frustration threw the control towards Lochridge, striking the crew member in the head. Rush's reckless behavior raised concerns about his ability as a pilot.

Lochridge also noted that OceanGate allowed inexperienced civilians to pilot its submersibles with just one day of training, policies that align with descriptions of haste and carelessness made by former employees and industry experts about OceanGate, especially under Rush’s leadership.

The accident with the Titan, which imploded in 2023 during an expedition to the wreck of the Titanic, is being investigated by the Coast Guard, which is trying to understand the failures that led to the tragedy. The agency will only send the conclusions of the investigations to the United States government after the process is complete.