Monday, September On the 16th, the U.S. Coast Guard will hold a Marine Investigation Board hearing on the Ocean Gate sinking. Titan The company has launched an investigation into the June 2023 explosion of a submersible that killed five crew members, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush. A two-week livestreamed public hearing in Charleston, South Carolina will determine what caused the submersible explosion, whether there was incompetence or negligence, and whether any laws were broken. The case will then be referred to criminal prosecutors, who may make recommendations to improve marine safety.
The committee hopes to do all this without publicly hearing from most of Ocean Gate’s remaining executives or from Rush’s wife, Wendy, who played a leading role in diving the Stockton. The investigation also will not include public testimony from the company that designed and built the submarine. Titaneither its innovative carbon fiber hull, or the senior operational staff who prepared, maintained or supported it. Titan In preparation for the 2023 expedition.
In fact, it appears that only a few of the 24 witnesses called were on board the ship. Titan Support vessels, Polar PrinceThe two who joined on the final mission were Renata Rojas, an unpaid volunteer, and Tim Catterson, a contractor with experience operating submersibles.
An anonymous source familiar with the investigation but not authorized to speak to the media told WIRED that the Coast Guard has reached out to Ocean Gate’s then-staff, executives and third-party suppliers, but was told they would invoke their Fifth Amendment rights if forced to appear, meaning they can refuse to testify on the grounds that their answers could be incriminating or put them at legal risk.
WIRED reached out to Ocean Gate and the hull manufacturer for comment. A lawyer for Janicki Industries, which stiffened and fabricated parts of the hull, said the company wasn’t participating in the hearing. WIRED had not received a response from the other companies by press time.
There had been speculation that retired U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Lockwood, who joined Ocean Gate’s board in 2013, might testify, but he is also not on the list.
The absence of anyone believed to have relevant knowledge has caused unrest among former Ocean Gate employees and marine experts, who question whether the full extent of the incident will ever come to light. Titan We can talk about the end without them.
“Personally, if I were a Coast Guardsman, I would call them in and have them invoke the Fifth Amendment,” said maritime lawyer Alton J. Hall Jr. “They have subpoena power, so I don’t see why they can’t do that.”
Coast Guard public affairs officer Melissa Leake, deputy public affairs officer for the Atlantic region, noted that the Coast Guard would not comment on why it did not subpoena specific witnesses, but she denied that the Coast Guard had not subpoenaed specific individuals or groups because of their Fifth Amendment claims.
The commission has a vast amount of digital and physical evidence, including past dive data and ship wreckage. Titan The hull, recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, includes sections of a carbon fiber hull. One of the expert witnesses called is a materials engineer from the National Transportation Safety Board’s Materials Laboratory.
