(NewsNation) — An article in The New Yorker reveals that a series of red flags were raised about the safety of the Titan submersible.
Reporter Ben Taub spoke to several people who warned the Titan wasn’t safe.
“There’s no way on Earth you could have paid me to dive the thing,” David Lochridge, former chief pilot of Titan owner OceanGate, reportedly said. “I don’t want to be seen as a tattletale but I’m so worried he (Stockton Rush, who was piloting the sub) kills himself and others in the quest to boost his ego.”
Lochridge was so concerned that he made a complaint to the Occupational Safety and Health Aministration, but dropped that complaint after OceanGate threatened him with a lawsuit.
Taub told “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” that OceanGate also threatened to have Lochridge and his family deported from the U.S.
“Because his employment was tied to his immigration status, they threatened to try to have them sent back if (Lochridge) didn’t withdraw his complaint,” Taub told Vargas.
Lochridge studied major components of the Titan and drafted a detailed report exposing multiple issues with the submersible.
“I would consider myself pretty ballsy when it comes to doing things that are dangerous, but that sub is an accident waiting to happen,” Lochridge said in a letter to Rob McCallum, an expedition leader in the industry.