Faulty engineering was the primary cause of the implosion that destroyed the Titan submersible and killed all five people aboard during a dive to the Titanic wreck, according to a final report released Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The incident occurred in June 2023 when the Titan suffered a catastrophic hull failure as it descended toward the wreck site in the North Atlantic. The NTSB report concluded that flaws in design and construction led to a carbon fiber composite pressure vessel with “multiple anomalies” that did not meet necessary strength and durability standards. The agency also found that OceanGate, which owned and operated Titan, did not adequately test its submersible or fully understand its structural limits.
The NTSB stated, “Faulty engineering of the Titan resulted in the construction of a carbon fiber composite pressure vessel that contained multiple anomalies and failed to meet necessary strength and durability requirements.” The report further noted that OceanGate’s lack of adequate testing meant it was unaware of how durable Titan actually was.
According to investigators, search efforts for Titan could have been more efficient if OceanGate had followed established emergency protocols. The report said this would have saved “time and resources even though a rescue was not possible in this case.”
The findings are consistent with an earlier Coast Guard report from August 2023, which called the implosion preventable. That investigation identified serious gaps between OceanGate’s documented safety procedures and their real-world practices.
OceanGate ceased operations in July 2023 following the incident. Company representatives did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday. After release of the Coast Guard’s report last year, an OceanGate spokesperson expressed condolences to families of those who died.
Among those killed were Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate; French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet; British businessman Hamish Harding; and Shahzada Dawood with his son Suleman Dawood from Pakistan.
The NTSB has recommended that the Coast Guard establish an expert panel to study submersibles designed for human occupancy and develop regulations based on those findings. It also urged dissemination of these results across an industry experiencing growth due to increased private exploration ventures.
Titan had conducted trips to view the Titanic since 2021. Its final mission began on June 18, 2023. Contact with its support ship was lost after about two hours underwater; extensive search operations were launched approximately 435 miles south of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
