(This story was updated to add new information.)
OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Söhnlein told a Coast Guard hearing Monday that the cause of Titan submersible disaster may never be known.
He also told the panel it “was not supposed to happen.”
Söhnlein spoke on the fifth day of public hearings aimed at finding out what caused the ill-fated submersible to implode, killing its five occupants.
“I don’t know what happened,” he said. “I don’t know who made what decision when and based on what information. And honestly, I don’t know if any of us will ever know this, despite all of your team’s investigative efforts.”
The hearings, held in North Charleston, South Carolina, are being broadcast live on the U.S. Coast Guard channel .
The Titanic-visiting vehicle imploded 2 miles below sea level on June 18, 2023. Its wreckage was found on the ocean floor about 330 yards off the bow of the Titanic. All five people on board were killed: OceanGate Expeditions founder Stockton Rush, who was piloting the 22-foot submersible, a British billionaire, a French explorer, a Pakistani-born businessman and his son.