By arhuu7860@gmail.com 
The CEO of the company behind the tragic Titan submersible stated in a transcript from a significant meeting in 2018 that “no one is dying under my watch – period.”
It documents a contentious conversation between Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate, and David Lochridge, his former director of marine operations, along with three other employees.
According to the log, Rush said, “I have no desire to die… I think this is one of the safest things I will ever do,” in response to Mr. Lochridge’s safety worries.
The US Coast Guard made the document public as part of their investigation into the June 2023 accident, in which the submarine burst while its route to the Titanic shipwreck. All five passengers, including Rush, perished.
Following the incident, OceanGate halted all commercial and exploratory operations, raising concerns about the submersible’s safety and design.
Investigators are trying to figure out what caused the disaster and offer suggestions to prevent similar occurrences over two weeks of hearings.
The transcript was uploaded to the inquiry website on Friday, but sections of the document were redacted.
The US Coast Guard has now confirmed to BBC News who was speaking in this key exchange during the two-hour meeting.
He had compiled a “quality inspection report”, which raised serious problems with the sub’s design.
These included concerns about the poor quality of the sub’s hull, which was made of carbon fibre, and issues with the way Titan was being constructed and tested.
He told the inquiry last week: “That meeting turned out to be a two-hour, 10-minute discussion… on my termination and how my disagreements with the organisation, with regards to safety, didn’t matter.”
The 2018 meeting was recorded, and the transcript captures Mr Lochridge saying: “I am addressing what I view as safety concerns, concerns I have mentioned verbally… which have been dismissed by everybody.”
Stockton Rush was recorded replying: “I’ve listened to them, and I have given you my response to them, and you think my response is inadequate.”
Rush went on to say: “Everything I’ve done on this project is people telling me it won’t work – you can’t do that.”
After telling the meeting attendees that he had no desire to die and that he believed his sub was safe, Rush continued by saying: “I’ve got a nice granddaughter. I am going to be around. I understand this kind of risk, and I’m going into it with eyes open and I think this is one of the safest things I will ever do.”
He then added: “I can come up with 50 reasons why we have to call it off and we fail as a company. I’m not dying. No one is dying under my watch – period.”
Mr Lochridge was fired after the meeting and then took his concerns to the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha).
But he said the US government agency was slow and failed to act. After increasing pressure from OceanGate’s lawyers, he dropped the case and signed a non-disclosure agreement.
At the end of his evidence to the Titan inquiry last week, he said that if the authorities had properly investigated OceanGate, the tragedy would have been averted.
