Titan sub implosion was preventable, final report says

The Titan commercial submarine’s 2023 implosion, which killed all five people aboard, was preventable, according to a U.S. Coast Guard investigation’s final report, released on Tuesday. The main cause of the craft’s destruction was the collapse of its carbon fiber hull during a dive to explore the wreck of the Titanic, the Coast Guard concluded in the 335-page document. The sudden implosion of the hull exposed the sub’s occupants to about 4,930 pounds per square inch of water pressure, killing them instantly.

The Washington state-based OceanGate company didn’t address many fundamental engineering principles in its hull design and failed to conduct proper analysis of its maintenance and integrity, the report said. The company also continued to use the sub after incidents that damaged the hull, while its written safety protocols were markedly different from its actual practices, investigators concluded.

How did the company’s workplace environment contribute to the tragedy? Investigators said the company’s toxic environment led employees and contractors to stay silent about safety concerns to avoid getting fired. OceanGate’s CEO, who died in the sub’s implosion, also misrepresented the Titan as indestructible, according to the report.

Could the government have done anything to prevent the implosion? The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, failed to conduct a timely investigation into a 2018 OceanGate whistleblower’s complaint, the Coast Guard said. The Coast Guard and OSHA also failed to communicate effectively about enforcement of safety protocols in the Seaman’s Protection Act, according to the report.

Dig deeper: Listen to Mary Muncy’s breakdown of the incident and subsequent search for the wreckage of the sub.