A former OceanGate mission specialist burst into tears Thursday when questioned about the company’s botched Titanic dive, which she said was “never sold as a Disney attraction.”
Renata Rojas, a banker based in New York City, quickly became overwhelmed and needed a break when she appeared before the U.S. Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Inquiry in North Charleston, South Carolina.
Rojas began to cry when the panel said it would begin asking direct questions about the Titan submersible that imploded in June last year, killing OceanGate founder Stockton Rush and his four passengers.
After a brief pause, he described his role in helping the crew on launch day, maintaining that everyone was aware of the risks involved.
“This was never sold as a Disney attraction,” he said of the experimental submarine largely operated by a commercial game controller.
“It was an expedition where… things happen and you have to adapt to change,” he added.
She continued to cry and wipe away tears as she described the last time she saw Rush and his eager passengers before launch.
“I saw five people eager to embark on the journey, excited,” Rojas told the panel.
“The weather was excellent,” Rojas added, noting that he did not notice anything unusual before the submersible was deployed from the support ship.
When the submersible failed to return as planned around 4:30 p.m. on June 18, 2023, Rojas said, the team on the surface waited a bit before finally notifying the Coast Guard.
“Normally they are allowed at least one hour (late),” he explained.
“There didn’t seem to be anything of concern until around 5 or 6 p.m.,” he added.
Earlier in her testimony, Rojas described herself as an experienced diver who was drawn to OceanGate because of her own lifelong dream of visiting the wreck of the Titanic.
He frequently worked as a mission specialist for OceanGate, which he described as a volunteer position that required a lot of experience.
She did not participate in the fateful last mission to Titan, but was on board for two test dives, she explained.
“I knew what I was doing was very risky. At no point did I feel unsafe about the operation,” Rojas told the panel.
The Titan submarine had 96 hours of life support on board, he added. “You are in a very remote area, trying to do something that very few people can do,” he said of the obvious dangers.
In addition to OceanGate founder and CEO Rush, British explorer Hamish Harding, French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, were killed when the submarine imploded.
Some wreckage from the submarine was found on the ocean floor near the Titanic wreck on June 22, after nearly five days of searching.
Grisly photographs of the wrecked ship emerged this week as several former OceanGate associates testified about their own concerns about the company, its chief executive and the Titan’s ability to survive the voyage.
