NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A Coast Guard panel that’s investigating the Titan submersible disaster heard two weeks of testimony that ended Friday.
Previous witnesses provided testimony that raised serious questions about whether warning signs were ignored.
The chair of the Marine Board of Investigation said more work needs to be done before a final list of recommendations is submitted to the leadership of the Coast Guard.
The final day brought some dramatic moments, including when a former OceanGate employee testified company co-founder Stockton Rush brushed aside worries about the U.S. Coast Guard. Rush said that “if the Coast Guard became a problem, then he would buy himself a congressman and make it go away,” according to Matthew McCoy, who resigned after the interaction.
NASA and Boeing officials on Thursday described what they called their limited roles in the creation of the doomed submersible Titan even though the co-founder of OceanGate previously touted ties to NASA and aerospace manufacturers.
Boeing was involved in an early feasibility study of the use of carbon fiber for Titan’s hull and in OceanGate’s acoustic sensors on the hull before the relationship ended.
Story By The Associated Press
About Jim McCabe
