'All it could do was spin in circles': Previous Titan sub passenger says fault aborted mission
Fred Hagen described a technical problem he experienced as a passenger during a previous dive on the Titan in 2021. He said the submersible could only make right turns.
Friday 20 September 2024 17:36, UK
A previous Titan submersible dive to the Titanic was aborted due to an apparent mechanical failure, one of the mission's passengers has said.
Fred Hagen had paid a fee to go on a dive in the Titan in 2021, two years before it imploded and killed all five passengers onboard.
It comes just a day after another malfunction was highlighted in evidence to the US Coast Guard panel which is investigating the tragedy.
On Thursday, new video of the Titan's wreckage was released and Dr Steven Ross, the former scientific director of Titan's owner OceanGate, described how during one dive in June 2023 - just days before the implosion - the platform malfunctioned causing passengers onboard to "tumble about".
Mr Hagen told the same panel on Friday about an earlier trip he joined in 2021 which had to be aborted.
"We realised that all it could do was spin around in circles, making right turns," Mr Hagen said. "At this juncture, we obviously weren't going to be able to navigate to the Titanic."
He said the Titan resurfaced and the mission was scrapped but also admitted he was aware that the experimental submersible was potentially unsafe.
"Anyone that wanted to go was either delusional if they didn't think that it was dangerous, or they were embracing the risk," he said.
Mr Hagen and other witnesses were given the title "mission specialists" by OceanGate but the panel heard it was a role applied to all paying passengers.
A Coast Guard investigatory panel has listened to four days of evidence which has raised questions about the company's operations before the doomed mission on 18 June 2023.
Read more:
What happened to the Titan?
Stories from the Titan submersible crew
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Earlier this week, former OceanGate operations director David Lochridge said he frequently clashed with co-founder Stockton Rush.
"The whole idea behind the company was to make money," he said. "There was very little in the way of science."
The hearing is expected to continue until 27 September.