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The Titan imploded near the wreck of the Titanic on June 18, causing the immediate death of the 5 people who were aboard the submersible, whose purpose was to visit the wreck of the Titanic . David Lochridge was the company's director of marine operations and chief submersible pilot before being fired after raising questions about OceanGate's testing protocol. Rob McCallum, a deepwater exploration specialist, emailed Lochridge in 2018 to ask how OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush was taking his departure from the company. The 20 streamers with the most followers on Kick: xQc, Amouranth, Adin Ross and other famous names “Stockton must be gutted,” McCallum told Lochridge. "You were the star player and the only one who gave me a glimmer of confidence.I think he's going to be even more taken aback when I tell him what's going on.
Lochridge responded that he would be "flabbergasted when I tell him what's going on," and added that he would share his assessment of the Titan submarine privately, but that he feared retaliation from Rush because of his "influence and money." "That submarine is not safe to dive in," Lochridge stated flatly 5 years ago in his email. "Do you think the submarine Saudi Arabia Phone Number List could be made safe for diving, or is it a lemon ?" (The term lemon refers to a vehicle that continues to have a non-conformity that substantially affects its use, value or safety). McCallum responded. "You're going to get a lot of support from people in the industry. Everyone is watching and waiting and shitting their pants in silence." Lochridge replied: "It's a lemon." "Oh dear," McCallum responded. "Oh dear, oh dear." Left: The Titan submersible underwater on an active tour.
Right: Pieces of the Titan submersible after being recovered. Left: The Titan submersible underwater on an active tour. Right: Pieces of the Titan submersible after being recovered. Reuters In 2018, Lochridge inspected OceanGate's submersible model and found "several critical aspects defective or untested," The New Yorker reported . He wrote a detailed report on the problems, including concerns about the ship's carbon fiber hull , the element that experts now say may have been what failed first. Rush became "furious" after Lochridge's report, according to the article, and OceanGate management insisted there was no need to test the hull. OceanGate's CEO ignored repeated warnings from inside and outside the company about potential problems with the vessel and refused to have it classified by an outside marine certification agency , according to the report, because he believed it would interfere with the innovation of his experiment.
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