As it was revealed to the world that the OceanGate submersible, missing since Sunday in the deepest parts of the ocean, was discovered to have imploded upon its descent, many questions have emerged regarding the craft itself.
According to Breitbart, experts have come out of the woodwork to point out that the craft wasn't actually classified or inspected by authorities before its deployment.
An extensive search of the area for several days proved futile, as it was revealed on Thursday that the submersible likely developed a leak and imploded on its way down to explore the wreck of the Titanic.
All five passengers of the submersible, including the CEO of OceanGate, are said to be deceased.
In a resurfaced 2019 blog post regarding safety questions concerning the submersible, OceanGate argued that it wasn't classified because it was too far advanced beyond common classifications.
"By definition, innovation is outside of an already accepted system," the blog said. "However, this does not mean that OceanGate does meet standards where they apply, but it does mean that innovation often falls outside of the existing industry paradigm."
"While classing agencies are willing to pursue the certification of new and innovative designs and ideas, they often have a multi-year approval cycle due to a lack of pre-existing standards, especially, for example, in the case of many of OceanGate’s innovations, such as carbon fiber pressure vessels and a real-time (RTM) hull health monitoring system," the company's blog post continued.
It added: "Bringing an outside entity up to speed on every innovation before it is put into real-world testing is anathema to rapid innovation."
The #OceanGate tragedy is the result of Stockton Rush refusing to take regulations and safety seriously. He refused to let third-party experts test his submersible. He also refused to seek classification/certification for the sub "because these regulations slow down innovation." pic.twitter.com/cfH3R9lQfG
— Raphtalia🇳🇱🏳️🌈 (@SilverFox235) June 21, 2023
Many submersible experts who've appeared in various news interviews since Sunday expressed concerns over previous safety issues/questions with the submersible that ended up imploding.
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, presumed to be dead at sea, was also criticized in recent days over his decision to focus on hiring less experienced, younger people for "inspirational" purposes, instead of hiring experienced submarine operators and engineers.
"When I started the business, one of the things you’ll find, there are other sub operators out there, but they typically have gentlemen who are ex-military submariners, and you’ll see a whole bunch of 50-year-old white guys. I wanted our team to be younger, to be inspirational," Rush said at the time.
One of his former employees was reportedly fired after expressing concerns over the submersible's safety issues.
There will presumably be additional information that emerges in the coming days as an investigation continues into what exactly went wrong with the submersible.
