Titan implosion hearing paints a picture of reckless greed and explorer passion

abcnews.go.com:

The operator of an experimental submersible that imploded while seeking out the sunken Titanic was either putting profits over safety or taking calculated risks while pushing humankind’s boundaries

Witnesses testified that the company that operated an experimental deep-water submersible that imploded, killing five people, put profits over safety and ignored warning signs before the disaster. Several company officials, meanwhile, spoke of the explorer spirit and taking calculated risks to push humankind’s boundaries.

Those different viewpoints emerged as the Coast Guard panel on Friday wraps up two weeks of testimony on the Titan disaster last year. The panel is tasked with determining why the carbon-fiber submersible was lost 12,500 feet (3,810 meters) deep on the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic.

Testimony painted contrasting images of greed and hubris as OceanGate sought out well-heeled clients for its submersible made from carbon fiber — a material that was untested at such depths — versus modern-day explorers who carefully considered risks as they sought to open the deepest depths of the world’s oceans to more people.

Guillermo Sohnlein, who helped found OceanGate with Stockton Rush, described the lofty goal “to give humanity greater access to the ocean, specifically the deep ocean.” Using carbon fiber for the pressure hull was hardly a novel idea, he said, and noted Rush himself was the first human to test the design.

But former operations director David Lochridge said the company was committed only to profit making.

“The whole idea behind the company was to make money,” he testified. “There was very little in the way of science.”

Witnesses could not even agree on what to call the wealthy clients who paid