The former director of maritime operations for the US company OceanGate, whose submersible went missing near the Titanic, had worried about the safety of passengers before he was fired, according to 2018 court documents.
A major search operation is underway in the North Atlantic to try to find the artifact and its five passengers, who left on Sunday to visit the wreckage of the Titanic, almost 4,000 meters deep.
David Lochridge, a Scottish diver and submarine pilot, started working for OceanGate in 2015 as an independent contractor, before being promoted to director of marine operations, according to court documents.
In a complaint, he claims he was fired in January 2018 after “raising significant safety concerns regarding the untested and experimental design of the Titan,” the name of the submersible.
A porthole not strong enough
David Lochridge had sued OceanGate in response to a lawsuit filed by the company, which accused him of having disclosed confidential information.
The former manager claimed to have verbally expressed his “safety and quality control concerns” of the Titan to company management, according to court documents. “These verbal communications had been ignored.”
David Lochridge was particularly alarmed by “OceanGate’s refusal to perform critical non-destructive testing” in relation to the submersible’s hull.
Titan’s passengers could be exposed to danger if the device ventures to extreme depths, he warned.
A porthole, located at the front of the submersible, was designed to withstand the pressure felt at a depth of 1,300m, while the OceanGate was intended to be submerged to 4,000m, says David Lochridge.
The company “refused to pay the manufacturer to build a window that meets the required depth of 4,000m,” it said.
The former manager claims to have “strongly encouraged” his employer to have the Titan inspected and certified by a specialized company. But instead of “addressing his concerns,” OceanGate “immediately terminated” David Lochridge, according to his complaint.
A settlement was finally reached between the company and its former employee in November 2018, according to Insider and the New Republic, which revealed the existence of these lawsuits. Stockton Rush, the head of OceanGate, is one of five passengers aboard the submersible.
Members of the Marine Technology Society group, which brings together specialists in marine technology, also expressed their “unanimous concern” about Titan in a letter sent to Stockton Rush in March 2018, according to the New York Times.
They expressed concern that OceanGate’s “experimental approach” could have “negative consequences (ranging from minor to catastrophic) that would have serious repercussions for all players in the industry.”
Source: BFM TV
