In the run-up to last year’s implosion of OceanGate’s Titan submersible, cost concerns played a role in decisions that may have contributed to the catastrophe, a former director of engineering for the Everett, Wash.-based company told investigators today at a Coast Guard hearing.
Phil Brooks, who headed up the engineering team starting in 2021, said OceanGate’s financial woes contributed to his decision to leave the company in early 2023, just months before the sub and its crew were lost during a dive to the wreck of the Titanic, 12,600 feet down in the North Atlantic.
“It was clear that the company was economically very stressed, and as a result, that they were making decisions and doing things … I felt that the safety was just being compromised way too much,” Brooks told the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation, which is due to wrap up a series of public hearings this week.
