Titan sub implosion: Dubai businessman's death was preventable, report finds

The death of five people caused by an implosion on board the Titan submersible's voyage to the Titanic shipwreck could have been avoided, according to a new report.

Hamish Harding was among a crew of five on board the Titan submersible when tragedy struck in June 2023. It was later confirmed that the vessel had imploded at a depth of about 4,000 metres (more than 13,000ft).

The US Coast Guard said at the time the Titan, belonging to tour company OceanGate, probably suffered a “catastrophic implosion” in the North Atlantic waters and there were no survivors. A report released on Tuesday following a US Coast Guard investigation found the vessel’s safety culture and operational practices “critically flawed".

Why did Titan come to a tragic end in the depths of the North Atlantic?

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Mr Harding, a British billionaire, died along with Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, French navy pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet and the boss of tour company OceanGate, Stockton Rush.

Mark Butler, chief executive of Action Aviation - the company Mr Harding founded - told The National that he was “appalled by the contents of the report, but not shocked”.

“It was very evident from the early stages of the investigation, now confirmed by the published report, that Mr Rush had been trying to run his company on a shoestring, cutting corners, and paying little attention to basic safety and best practices,” he said in a statement.

“His negligence and appalling behaviour have caused the death of Hamish Harding and the other passengers on board the Titan submersible.

“The loss of Hamish has been horrific for both the family and for all of us at Action Aviation. He was one of a kind, a wonderful father, and an amazing businessman. We hope that others will learn from this incident and not repeat the selfish and senseless actions of Mr Rush and his company.”

Mr Butler joined Action Aviation in 2008 as managing director and took over the business after Mr Harding’s death.

The accident was preventable, according to the chairman of the US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation, Jason Neubauer.

“This marine casualty and the loss of five lives was preventable,” said Mr Neubauer, in a statement released along with the findings of the report.

“The two-year investigation has identified multiple contributing factors that led to this tragedy, providing valuable lessons learned to prevent a future occurrence.

"There is a need for stronger oversight and clear options for operators who are exploring new concepts outside of the existing regulatory framework."

The board determined the primary contributing factors were OceanGate’s inadequate design, certification, maintenance and inspection process for the Titan, the statement added.

The board also found OceanGate failed to sufficiently investigate and address known hull anomalies following its Titanic expedition in 2022.

Investigators said the Titan’s real-time monitoring system generated data that should have been analysed and acted on during the 2022 Titanic expedition.

However, OceanGate did not take any action related to the data, conduct any preventative maintenance or properly store the Titan during the extended off-season before its 2023 Titanic expedition, the report stated.

Who was Hamish Harding?

The UAE-based businessman was married with two children and holds three Guinness World Records.

They include the longest time spent traversing the deepest part of the ocean – the Mariana Trench – on a single dive, and the fastest navigation of Earth through the North and South Poles by plane.

In 2021, Mr Harding dived in a two-man submarine mission lasting 36 hours to Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench with American explorer Victor Vescovo, breaking records by traversing the deepest part of the ocean for four hours and 15 minutes and travelling 4.6km along the sea floor.

In a post on Facebook to mark the five-month anniversary of the dive, Mr Harding said: “Can’t believe it’s been that long already but absolutely can’t wait for our next mission/journey/adventure!”

Mr Harding’s fastest circumnavigation through both poles took 46 hours and 40 minutes and was done in July 2019. He was the pilot and director of the mission, which marked the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, according to the Living Legends of Aviation.

But Mr Harding had made more than one trip to the South Pole. The awards body said that in 2016 he accompanied Mr Aldrin – who became the oldest person to reach the South Pole aged 86 – and took his son Giles in 2020, who became the youngest person to reach the South Pole aged 12.

His other Guinness World Record was for the longest distance travelled along the deepest part of the ocean – 4.634km, which he did during the Mariana Trench dive in 2021.

The following year, in June 2022, Mr Harding flew to space as part of the fifth human space flight run by Jeff Bezos’s company Blue Origin.

Later that year, the adventurer won his Living Legends of Aviation award, which he described as an “honour” in his acceptance speech before thanking his wife and two sons as well as his “very loving, very beautiful, very loyal” golden retrievers.

The billionaire, who was 58, had called the UAE his home since 2008.

Mr Harding wrote in a post on Instagram on June 18 that this was likely to be the only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023, “due to the worst weather in Newfoundland in 40 years”.

The family of Mr Harding is not commenting on the report's findings.