Titan submersible listening to stay: Mission specialist breaks down
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A tearful mission specialist recounted collecting personal belongings from the victims of an OceanGate sub before it dove under the water and the dangers of dives to the site of the Titanic wreck.
Renata Rojas, the mission specialist from the US submersible company that operated the expedition, addressed the US Coast Guard Titan Marine Board of Investigations panel. Former OceanGate scientific director Dr Steven Ross is testifying now.
They are two of the witnesses testifying to the panel investigating the “catastrophic implosion” of the Titan submersible, killing all five passengers on board.
Their comments come after damning Tuesday testimony from OceanGate’s former director of marine operations David Lochridge who stated he had “no confidence whatsoever” with the Titan’s construction.
“It was inevitable something was going to happen. It was just a [question of] when,” the whistleblower, who is one of 10 ex-OceanGate staff or suppliers that make up the 24 witnesses, testified.
The Coast Guard released more footage of the Titan sub wreckage on Wednesday, with video from June 22, 2023, showing remnants of the hull and carbon fiber debris scattered across the sea bed.
Ross says OceanGate had “multiple agendas”
During most of his scientific career, the focus on expeditions primarily focused on science, but Ross says OceanGate had “multiple agendas,” notably going to see the Titanic shipwreck.
Dr Steven Ross, former scientific director of OceanGate, testifying
Dr Stephen Ross is currently describing his background and his role working with the company.
Renata Rojas went down to see Titanic wreckage
Renata Rojas, a mission specialist went to see the Titanic. She said it had been her dream as a child to see the wreckage. She visited it with OceanGate in 2021.
Renata Rojas delivers emotional closing statement
“What we’ve all gone through is still very raw. Nothing is ever going to bring our friends back,” she said. “I hope that this investigation creates an understanding that with exploration, there’s risks. And without taking that risk and exploration, the world would still be flat.
“I hope that innovation continues so we can make the oceans accessible to people like me who got to fufill a dream.”
Rojas recalls losing communications with Titan submersible
Mission specialist Renata Rojas says she had just finished her lunch when the team lost communications with the Titan submersible.
She said Stockton Rush’s wife, Wendy Rush, usually sat at the communications table.
Mission specialist breaks down describing collecting belongings of Titan crew members
Shortly before crew members stepped into the Titan submersible, Rojas says she was tasked with storing the belongings of crew members.
“As mission specialist, people get inside the sub, they have to take their hat off, their lifejacket off, and we place that into each individual bags so they know it’s their belongings,” she said. “I was the one holding that bag for them as they got in the sub.”
Rojas describes reaction of crew notifying authorities
“It didn’t seem to be anything of concern until 6pm,” the mission specialist said, explaining when OceanGate employees thought something was wrong. “I don’t think we got concerned until it was really overdue.”
She says she believes the Canadian Coast Guard was first notified once the vessel did not resurface.
Rojas says passengers slept inside sub during one trip
Instead of coming back to the surface, Rojas said that weather during one dive was so dangerous that OceanGate made a decision to let passengers sleep on the vessel in the ocean for five hours.
“The weather when they came back to the surface was very rough,” she said. “It was safer for them to sleep and wake up five hours later and get them back on the platform.”
She added that one of her colleagues, Tim Catterson, a former OceanGate contractor, expressed that he would never get inside the submersible.
Rojas breaks down describing demeanor of passengers
Rojas broke down as she continued to describe what happened on the day of the tragedy. She said all of the passengers were excited to embark on their expedition.
“I saw five people smiling on the way to their journey,” she said. “Excited. We had wonderful weather.”
Rojas says she never felt ‘unsafe’ on OceanGate vessel
“I knew what I was doing was very risky,” she said. “I never at any point felt unsafe by the operation.”
Source: independent.co.uk
