OceanGate suspends all operations after 5 die in Titan implosion
T
he firm behind the Titan submersible which imploded final month has confirmed it has stopped all operations.
The deep-sea vessel was on an expedition to the Titanic wreckage round 435 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland, when it misplaced contact with the tour operator an hour and 45 minutes into the two-hour descent, with the vessel reported lacking eight hours after communication was misplaced.
After days of looking, wreckage from the submersible was recovered from the ocean flooring close to the Titanic after the implosion, which killed all 5 individuals on board.
OceanGate has suspended all exploration and industrial operations
British adventurer Hamish Harding and father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood died alongside OceanGate Expeditions’ chief government Stockton Rush and Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
The firm has now posted a message on its web site saying: “OceanGate has suspended all exploration and commercial operations.”
Speaking after proof was recovered from the wreck, the Marine Board of Investigation’s (MBI) chairman Captain Jason Neubauer mentioned: “I am grateful for the co-ordinated international and inter-agency support to recover and preserve this vital evidence at extreme offshore distances and depths.
“The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of this tragedy.
“There is still a substantial amount of work to be done to understand the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the Titan and help ensure a similar tragedy does not occur again.”
After the implosion, the opposite OceanGate co-founder, Guillermo Sohnlein, defended the agency – describing laws surrounding visits to the Titanic as “tricky to navigate”.