Investigation into the implosion of Titan submersible providing new details

SALT LAKE CITY — The investigation into the implosion of the Titan submersible is starting to provide more details that claimed the lives of five people as they were making their way down the depths of the ocean to see the wreckage of the Titanic.

Evan Lambert, Washington correspondent for NewsNation, provided KSL NewsRadio with the latest on the investigation on Monday morning.

Lambert says the US Coast Guard will lead the investigation. The Coast Guard is calling this a Marine Board of Investigation.

“They say that’s their highest level of Coast Guard investigation,” Lambert said to Dave & Dujanovic. “And this is essentially aimed at preventing another tragedy like this from happening again.”

Lambert also says the investigation could potentially lead to criminal or civil penalties. 

“But the ultimate goal is to learn what happened, why it happened. And how to prevent it from happening again,” he said.

The Coast Guard will have plenty of assistance in the investigation, according to Lambert.

He says the National Transportation Safety Board, along with similar agencies from Canada, France and Great Britain will help with the inquiry into what caused the implosion.

Material that made Titan submersible

Lambert says the investigation will likely look at some of the material used in making the submersible, including carbon fiber.

“That was kind of essentially cutting edge. And that it really hadn’t been used before in these kinds of submersibles,” he said. “And the CEO of the company OceanGate kind of bragged about, you know, using this combination of materials and acknowledged that it was breaking some well-established rules.”

Lambert is asked how much the investigation will cost and who will cover the cost?

He says experts have already put the actual search and rescue operation into the millions of dollars.

“It would probably pale in comparison to how much it costs to actually search and try to recover the wreckage of the submersible,” Lambert said.

Lambert tells KSL NewsRadio that the Coast Guard has policy and law established that prevents it from seeking reimbursement for the cost of search and rescue.

So, based on that, Lambert says OceanGate may not be responsible for any of the costs. Instead, the costs may be picked up the taxpayers of several countries.

Listen to the entire segment.

 

Read more:

• Questions about Titanic-bound sub’s regulation, as investigators hunt for reason it imploded
• James Cameron shares thoughts on the submersible tragedy, sees similarities with Titanic wreck

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