OceanGate CEO told passengers to 'sleep' when battery went 'kaput' for 24 hours on previous trip

A former Titan sub passenger claimed OceanGate's CEO told them to 'sleep' when the battery went 'kaput' during a previous trip.

Videographer Jaden Pan was part of one expedition down to the Titanic wreck back in 2021.

And while he was excited for the journey, the crew got into a bit of trouble when the battery stopped working.

Speaking to the BBC, Pan explained that they had actually made it to the ocean floor and were within 'two football fields’ of the wreckage at the time.

However, it was then that CEO Stockton Rush told the crew they had to to go back up to the surface as the battery had failed.

"At first, I thought he was joking, because we were over two hours into our expedition and so close to the bottom," Pan said.

BBC

"But then he explained that one of the batteries went kaput and we were having trouble using the electronic drops for the weights, so it would be hard for us to get back up to the surface."

While he worked on fixing the problem, Rush suggested passengers 'sleep' as it would take 24 hours for the weights to dissolve and the sub to make its way back up.

Half the crew said they were OK with taking a nap while the other half were keen to get moving.

And eventually, Rush managed to use the hydraulics to drop the weight get the vessel and the passengers back to safety.

This comes after a former OceanGate employee expressed fears about the safety of the Titan submersible in emails which have since been leaked.

Last month, a crew of five, including Rush, lost their lives during a trip to the Titanic wreck after the vessel suffered a 'catastrophic implosion'.

And now, worrying emails sent by ex-worker David Lochridge have been leaked that show he had safety concerns way back in 2018, during the construction of the Titan sub.

OceanGate/Becky Kagan Schott

According to The New Yorker, Lochridge said in an email: "I don’t want to be seen as a Tattle tale but I’m so worried he kills himself and others in the quest to boost his ego.

"I would consider myself pretty ballsy when it comes to doing things that are dangerous, but that sub is an accident waiting to happen.

"There’s no way on earth you could have paid me to dive the thing."

Just a few days before he sent the email, Lochridge had reportedly inspected every important element of the submersible. The result of the report had been a forest of red flags.

And in a report refusing to sign off on the sub, Lochridge wrote: "Verbal communication of the key items I have addressed in my attached document have been dismissed on several occasions, so I feel now I must make this report so there is an official record in place.

"Until suitable corrective actions are in place and closed out, Cyclops 2 (Titan) should not be manned during any of the upcoming trials."

Topics: US News, Technology, Titanic

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers is LADbible's Editorial Lead. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History, he went on to write for the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express. So as you can imagine, he’s spent many a night wondering just how useful that second language has been. But c'est la vie.

@SmithersDom