David Lochridge, the former director of marine operations for the Titan submersible project, was fired in 2018 after the company refused to comply with his demands for more rigorous safety checks on the submersible, including testing to prove its completeness.
According to the Daily Mail on June 20, OceanGate at that time said that the process of classifying the ship could take years and would be a "curse" for rapid innovation.
Mr. David Lochridge, former director of marine operations for the Titan submersible project. Photo: OceanGate
Mr Lochridge, who had a safety oversight role on the Titan submersible project, urged OceanGate to classify the ship several years ago before being fired over disagreements over the ship's safety inspections.
The former executive also wanted the company to conduct hull scans to detect potential vulnerabilities rather than relying on acoustic monitoring – which would only detect problems in the very short time before the ship exploded.
The revelation is significant because rescuers do not know whether Titan is still at the bottom of the ocean, leading to concerns that it could explode under the immense pressure.
In a 2018 court filing, the company’s lawyers said Mr. Lochridge’s employment was terminated because of his failure to accept their research and plans, including safety procedures.
OceanGate was unwilling to pay a classification society to test its experimental design. Photo: PA
OceanGate also claims that Mr. Lochridge shared confidential information with others and wiped the company's hard drives.
Mr. Lochridge has called on OceanGate to seek a classification society, such as the U.S. Bureau of Shipping, to inspect and certify the Titan.
According to legal filings, OceanGate has denied both requests, stating that it is not willing to pay a classification society to review its experimental design.
The Titan submersible, which costs $250,000 per person, is still missing with five people on board after losing contact while diving to view the wreck of the Titanic, which lies about 3,800 meters below the Atlantic Ocean. A search and rescue operation is underway to locate and recover the submersible before its oxygen supply runs out.
The US Coast Guard raced against time and faced a series of daunting logistical challenges, including extreme ocean pressure, to find the submersible, which was equipped with several days of oxygen and had only about 40 hours of air left by 1pm local time.
Even if the Titan submersible could be located, recovering it would not be easy, as even the best divers cannot safely go deeper than a few hundred meters below the surface.
To recover objects from the seabed, the US Navy uses remotely operated vehicles that can reach depths of 6,000m. But ships carrying such vehicles usually move no faster than 30km/h and the Titanic wreck lies about 600km off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush was among five people on the missing submarine, along with two prominent explorers, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.
Businessman Dawood and his son are both British nationals. The Dawood family is one of Pakistan's most prominent, with the eponymous company investing across the country in agriculture , industry and healthcare.
Mr. Dawood and his son. Photo: Daily Mail
Mr. Dawood, 48, is also vice chairman of the board of directors of Engro Corporation, a Pakistan-based conglomerate that operates in several sectors including fertilizer and chemical manufacturing. His son, Suleman, 19, is a university student.
British billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, was also confirmed as one of the passengers. Mr. Harding is currently the chairman of Action Aviation - a business and operating company that provides many services in the aviation industry.
Another famous figure is Mr. Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a former commander who served in the French Navy for 25 years. During that time, he was the captain of the French Navy's deep-diving team. Mr. Nargeolet led several expeditions to the site of the Titanic and participated in many scientific and technical expeditions around the world.
Source
Comment (0)