U.S. Coast Guard officials investigating the implosion of an experimental watercraft en route to the wreck of the Titanic were scheduled Monday to hear from former employees of the company that owned the Titan submersible.
The aim of the two-week hearing in Charleston County, South Carolina, is to "uncover the facts surrounding the incident and develop recommendations to prevent similar tragedies in the future," the Coast Guard said in a statement earlier this month. The ongoing Marine Board of Investigation is the highest level of marine casualty investigation conducted by the Coast Guard.
The Titan imploded in the North Atlantic in June 2023, killing all five people on board and setting off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration.
Among those killed was Stockton Rush, co-founder of OceanGate, the Washington state company that owned the Titan. The company suspended operations after the implosion. Witnesses scheduled to testify on Monday include OceanGate's former engineering director, Tony Nissen; the company's former finance director, Bonnie Carl; and former contractor Tym Catterson.
Some key OceanGate representatives are not scheduled to testify. They include Rush's widow, Wendy Rush, who was the company's communications director.
