The last text message from the five-person crew of the doomed Titan submersible before they died was “all good here,” according to a Coast Guard investigation.
People on board Titan had been communicating with a support ship through text messages on their way to the Titanic wreckage site, but they lost contact shortly before the submersible imploded.
The support ship, Polar Prince, had been unable to monitor Titan’s depth and weight as it descended and sent repeated questions, investigators said Monday on the first day of a two-week hearing about the disaster.
Polar Prince then sent several messages asking if Titan’s crew could still see it on the sub’s onboard display. Titan’s final message was “all good here.”
The ship imploded minutes later. Its disappearance and the frantic search that followed sparked worldwide concern in June 2023. All five people on the sub died, and the company that owned and operated it, OceanGate, has ceased operations.
Private underwater submersibles are not subject to any government regulations, and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush ignored concerns from others in the industry about Titan’s integrity.
Rush was one of the five people who died, along with veteran Titanic explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman, and British adventurer Hamish Harding.
OceanGate first launched Titan on visits to the Titanic wreckage site in 2021. Several of the company’s former leaders and employees are scheduled to testify at the hearing.
With News Wire Services
