Titan submersible tragedy could have been averted? Key employee's big claim

A key employee, who warned about the possible risk the imploded Titan submersible faced before its last voyage, testified on Tuesday that the tragedy could have been averted if had looked into his complaint.
David Lochridge, OceanGate’s former operations director, said he was disappointed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's move to not follow through on his complaint.
"I believe that if OSHA had attempted to investigate the seriousness of the concerns I raised on multiple occasions, this tragedy may have been prevented," he said while speaking before a commission trying to determine what caused the Titan to implode en route to the wreckage of the Titanic last year, killing all five on board.
"As a seafarer, I feel deeply disappointed by the system that is meant to protect not only seafarers but the general public as well," Lochridge added, according to news agency AP.
During his testimony, Lochridge said that eight months after he filed a complaint with OSHA, a caseworker told him that the agency had not begun probing the case and that his case was listed after 11 cases. But by then, OceanGate was suing Lochridge -- in response to which, he filed a countersuit.
About 10 months after he filed the complaint, he decided to walk away. The case was closed and both lawsuits were dropped.
"I gave them nothing, they gave me nothing," he said of OceanGate.
Lochridge further claimed that he frequently clashed with the company's co-founder and felt the company was committed only to making money.
"The whole idea behind the company was to make money," Lochridge said. "There was very little in the way of science," he said.
Lochridge was one of the most anticipated witnesses to appear before a commission. His testimony echoed that of other former employees on Monday, one of whom described OceanGate head Stockton Rush as volatile and difficult to work with.
The Titan submersible disappeared on 18 June 2023, after losing communication with its support ship following its descent about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
Onboard were Stockton Rush; Shahzada Dawood, a British-Pakistani businessman; Dawood’s 19-year-old son Suleman; British aviation tycoon and explorer Hamish Harding; and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French maritime expert with extensive experience of the Titanic wreck site.
Last month, Nargeolet’s family filed a lawsuit against OceanGate, accusing the company of misleading him about the submersible’s safety. Following the accident, OceanGate suspended its commercial and exploratory operations.
Four days after the submersible disappeared, wreckage from the vessel was discovered about a third of a mile from the bow of the Titanic. Months later, divers recovered human remains amid the wreckage.